Employers MUST use the NEW Form I-9 Starting Dec. 26
MSEC Weekly Hot Topic, 12/11/2007

Effective Dec. 26, 2007, U.S. employers will be required to use the new Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 to document employment eligibility for new hires or risk fines and penalties, says U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The new form alters the list of documents employers can accept to verify work eligibility. The revised I-9 form is available on the USCIS website. USCIS has also published an updated "Handbook for Employers: Instructions for Completing the Form I-9".

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act requires employers to use Form I-9 to verify the identity and work eligibility of all new employees (including U.S. citizens) at the time they are hired. Completed I-9 forms are to be maintained by the employer, in hard-copy or electronic format, for three years after the employee's date of hire or for a year after the date the employment is terminated, whichever is later, USCIS says. Completed forms are not to be submitted to the government but must be retained.

The revised Form I-9 removes five documents from "List A" that employers may accept from new hires. The revised List A - which is to "Establish Both Identity and Employment Eligibility" - adds one document to the index. The documents employers can accept under List A on the new form I-9 are:

• U.S. passport.

• Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-551).

• Unexpired foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp.

• Unexpired Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph (Form I-766, I-688, I-688A or I-688B).

• Unexpired foreign passport with an unexpired "Arrival-Departure Record," Form I-94, bearing the same name as the passport and containing an endorsement of the alien's nonimmigrant status, if that status authorizes the alien to work for the employer.

The documents removed from List A and no longer acceptable are:

• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561).

• Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570).

• Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151).

• Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327).

• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571).