*By Patrick O. Peters
For the first time in 17 years, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services department, a division of the Department of Homeland Security
(“DHS”), has revised the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (“Form
I-9”). The new form is valid as of November 7, 2007. DHS is in the
process of posting a Notice in the Federal Register that will allow
employers 30 days to transition to the new form.
All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each new
employee hired in the United States. Form I-9 does not have to be filed
with any government agency. However, employers must retain each
employee’s Form I-9 for a period of three years from the date of hire or
one year past termination, whichever is longer.
The revised Form I-9 seeks to achieve full compliance with the
document reduction requirements of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which reduced the number of
documents employers may accept from newly hired employees during the
employment eligibility verification process.
The revised Form I-9 removes five documents from the list of
approved documents to verify employment and identity. These documents
include: Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-570);
Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570); Alien Registration
Receipt Card (Form I-151); the unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327);
and the unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571). According to
DHS, the forms were removed because they lack sufficient features to
help deter counterfeiting, tampering, and fraud.
The most recent version of the Employment Authorization
Document (Form I-766) was added to List A of the List of Acceptable
Documents on the revised form. The revised list now includes: a U.S.
passport (unexpired or expired); a Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551);
an unexpired foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp; an
unexpired Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph
(Form I-766, I-688, I-688A, or I-688B); and an unexpired foreign
passport with an unexpired Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94) for
nonimmigrant aliens authorized to work for a specific employer.
There is no requirement that current employees complete the
revised Form. Employers are advised to begin using the revised form
immediately, however, for all newly hired employees.
