USCIS Revises Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9

Employers must transition to new I-9 by Dec. 26, 2007

WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) is now available for use. All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States.

The revision seeks to achieve full compliance with the document reduction requirements of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which reduced the number of documents employers may accept from newly hired employees during the employment eligibility verification process. The revised Form I-9 is a further step in USCIS' ongoing work toward reducing the number of documents used to confirm identity and work eligibility.

Key to the revision is the removal of five documents for proof of both identity and employment eligibility. They 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).

The forms were removed because they lack sufficient features to help deter counterfeiting, tampering, and fraud.

Additionally, 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.

The Form I-9 with a revision date of June 5, 2007 is the only version of the form that is valid for use. The revision date of the Form I-9 is printed on the lower right corner of the form and states "(Rev. 06/05/07)N."

Effective Dec. 26, 2007, employers who fail to use the revised form will be subject to applicable penalties.

The new Form I-9 can be found on the USCIS Web site at www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf. A fact sheet with more information about the revisions is available at www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/FormI9FS110707.pdf.

Forms may also be ordered by calling USCIS toll-free at 1-800-870-3676. For information on immigration laws, regulations, and procedures, call the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

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Office of Communications
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Washington, D.C.
Web site: www.uscis.gov
November 23, 2007 (revised)

This story was featured in the December 2007 newsletter