Employers Must Start Using New Form I-9 on April 3

In December 2008, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an interim rule revising Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The rule initially provided an effective date of February 2, 2009. After President Obama took office, USCIS pushed back the implementation date for using the new Form I-9 from February 2 to April 3. According to information from USCIS, the April 3 date for implementation will not be delayed any further. Thus, employers are required to use the revised Form I-9 for new employees hired on or after April 3, 2009.

USCIS revised Form I-9 to improve the security of documents being presented during the employment authorization verification process. With the revised Form I-9, certain documents that were previously acceptable for purposes of employment authorization will no longer be allowed, while some new documents have been added to the list of acceptable documents. Overall, the biggest change with the revised Form I-9 is that all documents presented during the verification process must be unexpired. For more information about the changes and additions by USCIS with the revised Form I-9, please click here.