On Monday, July 17, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.  After September 17, 2017, the prior version of Form I-9 with revision date of 11/14/16 N will no longer be acceptable for use.  The new Form I-9 is available on the USCIS I-9 central website.  USCIS also announced a new Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274, rev. 7/14/2017), which also is available on the I-9 central website.

The changes to the Form I-9 are relatively minor in nature.  The instructions were revised to reflect the new name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, which is now called the “Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.”  The phrase, “the end of” was removed from the instructions regarding action that must be taken no later than “the first day of employment.” The instructions for completing Section 1 now read:  “You, the employee must complete each field in Section 1 as described below.  Newly hired employees must complete and sign Section 1 no later than the first date of employment.  Section 1 should never be completed before you have accepted a job offer.”   The other changes announced by USCIS are revisions to the List of Acceptable documents, which include:

1. Adding a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) as an acceptable document in List C (This document is acceptable for E-Verify and is now included in the drop down menu for those completing the Form I-9 from the USCIS website);
2. Combining all certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Forms DS-1350, and Form FS-240) into selection C#2 in List C; and
3. Re-numbering the List C documents.

These revisions are included in the revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274).  Employers should transition to the new Form I-9 with revision date 07/17/17 N as soon as possible, but no later than September 18.

Foster will continue to monitor employment eligibility verification requirements for employers and will provide updates as they become available via Foster’s website at www.fosterglobal.com, and via future Immigration Updates©.