Alert: Get Ready to Switch to Another—Yes, Another—Revised I-9

On July 17, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will release a new revision of Form I-9—Revision 07/17/17 N—to be used for employment eligibility verification. The new form will be available from the USCIS website at https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/whats-new.

Employers will need to use the new version of the form beginning on September 18.

Most of the changes will be minor, technical changes. For example, in the form’s instructions the name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices will be amended to its newer name, “Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.” The instructions will also be updated to remove “the end of” from instructions regarding required actions to be taken no later than “the first day of employment.”

Revisions will also be made to the List of Acceptable Documents for employment verification.

Specifically, per the USCIS press release:

• We will add the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) to List C.
  Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Section 2 and Section 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9.
• We will combine all the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350 and Form FS-240) into selection C#2 in List C.
• We will renumber all List C documents except the Social Security card.
  For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C will change from List C #8 to List C #7.

Per these changes, the USCIS will also release a revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274), which is intended to be easier for users to navigate.

Overall, the key takeaway is that there is another new form and employers will need to transition new hire verification to that form as soon as practical, but no later than September 18.

Download the new form, here.