Effective February 2, 2009, employers will have to complete a new, revised I-9 form for all new hires and for reverification of certain employees with temporary work authorization. The new form incorporates the following changes regarding the types of documents that employers may accept to prove identity and employment authorization:
- All documents presented during the verification process will now have to be unexpired. Previously, certain expired documents (e.g., U.S. passports) were acceptable.
- Acceptable List A identity and employment authorization documentation will no longer include Form I-688, Temporary Resident Card; Form I-688A, Employment Authorization Card; and Form I-688B, Employment Authorization Card. All these cards are now obsolete.
- List A will now include foreign passports containing certain machine-readable immigrant visas. Also added to List A are passports from the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands if presented with an I-94 or I-94A arrival/departure record.
The new I-9 form will be available starting February 2, 2009. Forms can also be requested by calling the National Customer Service Center of USCIS at 1-800-375-5283. Samples of the new form and instructions, as published in the Federal Register, are available here.
The new form should not be completed for existing employees. It must be used only for new hires and for reverification of current employees who only have temporary work authorization upon expiration of that authorization.