Revision to employment eligibility verification Form 1-9 announced

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced recently that a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) now is available for use.

All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the U.S. The revision seeks to comply with the document reduction requirements of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which reduced the number of documents employers may accept from newly hired employees during the employment eligibility verification process.

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). 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.

Employers are encouraged to start using the revised Form I-9 immediately. The form will become effective after it is published in the Federal Register. Both the revised form and the "Handbook for Employers, Instructions for Completing the Form I-9" are available online here.

To order forms, call USCIS toll-free at 1-800-870-3676. For forms and information on immigration laws, regulations and procedures, call the National Customer Service Center at 1- 800-375-5283.