Here's What's New with the Revised Form I-9

If you’re a payroll professional - or any employed person in the United States - you’re familiar with Form I-9 or the Employment Eligibility Verification form. This is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of all hired individuals in the U.S, which includes citizens and non-citizens.

Employers and employees both fill this form out. An employee’s verification is authorized by he or she presenting acceptable documents evidencing his or her status. Typically, this is a driver’s license, Social Security card, or passport. There are many other forms, too.

On Monday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a revised version of Form I-9. Employers can continue to use the older version until September 17, 2017. The existing storage rules will remain in place. All employers must have a paper, microfilm, or electronic version of an I-9 for each employee, ready to present within three business days should it be requested. Even after an employee is fired or quits, employers must retain his or her Form I-9.

The revisions made on Monday include:

-The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices has been changed to Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.

-'The end of' has been removed from the phrase 'the first day of employment.'

-The Consular Report of Birth Abroad, also known as Form FS-240, was added to List C under the acceptable documents for authorizing. This will also be reflected in E-Verify.

-All certifications of birth issued by the Department of State have been combined into one selection - C#2 - on List C under the acceptable documents for authorizing.

-All the List C documents have been renumbered, except for the Social Security card number.