If you’re an HR manager or play a role in your company’s hiring and onboarding process, then working with Form I-9 is nothing new. That’s why it’s important for you to know that last month, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new Form I-9.
Employers use this form to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for each individual they hire in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. Both employees and employers must complete the form.
So, What Changed?
The USCIS published the Form I-9 Federal Register notice announcing a new version of Form 1-9, which contains minor changes to the form and its instructions. Employers should begin using this updated form as of Jan. 31, 2020.
Employers can still use the previous version of the form (Rev. 07/17/2017 N) until April 30, 2020. After that date, they can only use the new form with the 10/21/2019 version date. The version date is located in the lower-left corner of the form.
Form Changes include:
Revised the Country of Issuance field in Section 1 and the Issuing Authority field (when selecting a foreign passport) in Section 2 to add Eswatini and Macedonia, North per those countries’ recent name changes. This change is only visible when completing the fillable Form I-9 on a computer.
Instructions Changes include:
- Clarification on who can act as an authorized representative on behalf of an employer.
- Updated USCIS website addresses.
- Provided clarifications on acceptable documents for Form I-9.
- Updated the process for requesting paper Forms I-9.
- Updated the DHS Privacy Notice.
The new form can be found on the USCIS website, here.