Revised Form I-9 Now Available

On November 7, 2007, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that a revised Form I-9 is now available. USCIS is encouraging employers to begin using the revised Form I-9 immediately. Use of the new form will be mandatory once official notice is published in the Federal Register. The notice has not yet been published.

What Has Changed?

Five documents have been eliminated from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents. They are the Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561), Certificate of Naturalization (N-550 or N-570), Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151), Unexpired Reentry Permit (I-327), and Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (I-571). The new form has also added Form I-766 to the types of Employment Authorization Documents that are an acceptable List A document.

Please note that the instructions for the revised form indicate that unless the employer is participating in E-Verify, the employee is not required to provide his or her Social Security number in Section 1.

The revised Form I-9 is available online at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf. While Form I-9 is available in both Spanish and English, the Spanish version may only be used as a translation guide, except in Puerto Rico.

USCIS has also published an updated Handbook for Employers: Instructions for Completing the Form I-9, which is available online at http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf . The updated Handbook provides comprehensive information regarding Form I-9, including guidance on electronic I-9s, electronic retention of I-9s, electronic signatures, and system documentation and security (please see pages 12–14 of the Handbook for more detailed information).

How This Affects You

We recommend that employers review and implement the new Form I-9 as soon as possible. Release of the revised Form I-9 and updated Handbook also presents a good opportunity for employers to review their internal immigration policies, alert employees with responsibility for I-9s to the new changes, perform an in-house audit, if necessary, and offer additional I-9 training.

Morgan Lewis will continue to monitor this process and will update you with any new information as it becomes available. If you have any questions about any of the issues raised in this Morgan Lewis Immigration Alert, please contact:

San Francisco
A. James Vázquez-Azpiri
Lance Nagel
 
Washington, D.C.
Eleanor Pelta
Eric S. Bord

About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,300 lawyers in 22 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Houston, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis or its practices, please visit us online at www.morganlewis.com.