“Alert: New Form I-9 Effective Immediately”

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), which enforces federal employment verification requirements, has issued the first updated Form I-9 since 1991. Devised to help employers verify that every new employee is either a U.S. citizen or authorized to work in the U.S., the law requires that the new Form I-9 be used for all individuals hired on or after November 7, 2007. However, CIS also granted a 30-day “transition period” for employers to begin using the new form. That transition period ended last week on December 26, 2007. Employers’ use of the prior version of the Form I-9 may now result in administrative penalties.

CIS also revised its “Handbook for Employers” last month, which explains the new I-9 process in detail and includes questions and answers on filling out the form, examples of the acceptable documents, and a copy of the Form I-9. To verify that you have the correct version, the new form is identified in the lower right hand corner as “Form I-9 (Rev. 06/05/07) N.”