The current Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification is set to expire on August 31, 2019. However, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have directed all employers utilizing this form as a part of the employment processes to continue using it until they publish a new edition soon.

Form I-9 is used by US employers to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment. The current Form I-9 has an edition date of July 17, 2017 which is noted in the corners of the form. The last time this was revised in January 2017 it incorporated a few changes including –

• Requirement for all last names used
• Addition of prompts to verify information submitted
• Offer the form to multiple users/translators
• Supplemental pages for additional information

With new H1-B data hub, the started by USCIS on April 1, 2019 all information pertaining to H1-B petitioners, their employers and area of employment is accessible to the public. The usage of Form I-9 by employers facilitates the information in this data-hub by recording the number of foreign talent approved and recruited using I-9. This data-hub records approval and denial rates, name of employers recruiting H1-B visa holders, and identify their demographic distribution based on fiscal year of employment, company name, city, state and or zip code.

Are you Form I-9 Compliant?

Not correctly utilizing the I-9 form and being compliant with the employment verification process can lead up to many penalties for the employers hiring foreign talent like workers on H1B and L1 visas. They are –

To avoid these expensive penalties and being compliant, stay tuned for the release of the new, revised Form I-9 edition coming out soon. Once released, USCIS will gives employers two months to switch to the new version of Form I-9.