Changes to Form I-9
September 2nd, 2009 NancyUSCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) has issued a revised I-9 form, effective August 7, 2009. (Look in the lower right-hand corner for the “Rev. Date” if you’re not sure which version of this federal form you’re using.) You can retrieve the new I-9 from www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf. Don’t worry if you didn’t know about this until now – documenting new employees’ right to work on the old form is okay, too, for a while at least. But why wait? Start using the new one now. It has some revised language that I think is helpful.
For those of you unfamiliar with the I-9, it functions somewhat like the W-4: new employees complete the form and you retain it on file. USCIS provides the following instruction:
“Do not file Form I-9 with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or USCIS. Form I-9 must be kept by the employer either for three years after the date of hire or for one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later. The form must be available for inspection by authorized U.S. Government officials (e.g., Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Office of Special Counsel).”
Unlike the W-4 where you don’t need to verify anything, you are required to examine the documents needed to verify an applicant’s right to work in the US. The five-page packet includes instructions on pages 1-3, the form itself on page 4, and a list of documents on page 5 that applicants can show you to establish that they have the right to work here.
No matter how convenient it may seem if an applicant doesn’t have the right combination of papers, you can’t shuffle these documents – taking two from column B instead of one from B and one from C, for example - so follow the instructions carefully. Note that you don’t need to photocopy the documents. I know many people do, but it seems to me that copying opens up opportunities for fraud that are better left closed. Any thoughts?
To read about changes affecting federal contracts and verification of employment eligibility, go to www.NFPAccountingHelp.org and click on Free Resources, then choose newsletter. It’ll be posted through September 10 or so.