Recently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it updated its Employment Eligibility Verification form, also known as Form I-9, to extend the form’s expiration date from July 31, 2026, to May 31, 2027.
Employers must use the Form I-9 dated “08/01/2023,” which may have an expiration date of either “07/31/2026” or “05/31/2027.” Employers may use either form until its respective expiration date. However, the USCIS’ website will only include the Form I-9 with the new “05/31/2027” expiration date for downloading.
Background
On Aug. 1, 2023, the USCIS published a new version of the Form I-9 that employers were required to use beginning on Nov. 1, 2023. Some of the most notable changes included the following:
- Sections 1 and 2 were reduced to a single sheet; all previous fields remained, but some fields were merged.
- The preparer/translator certification area was moved to a standalone supplement that employers can use as necessary for initial verification or recertification.
- Section 3 (Reverification and Rehire sections) was moved to a standalone supplement that employers can use as necessary.
- The list of acceptable documents now includes some acceptable receipts, guidance and links to information on automatic extensions of employment authorization documentation.
The new Form I-9 includes updated instructions. These instructions were condensed from 15 to eight pages and contained additional definitions, streamlined processes, and an explanation of how to use the new checkboxes to indicate when Form I-9 documents were examined remotely.
More Information
Employers can find additional resources by visiting the USCIS’ I-9 Central or joining a free Form I-9 webinar. Employers may access the most current version of the form here.
Contact us to see how you could minimize risk: