U.S. employers have until April 30, 2020, to finish using the previous version of Form I-9, the document used to verify an employee’s identity and authorization to work. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released the revised form on January 31 and says only the new version may be used after April 30. For a small business, the immediate task is to update the blank forms used for hiring—not to ask every current employee to complete another one. [S1][S2]

The new form carries the version date 10/21/2019; the outgoing edition is marked 07/17/2017 N. USCIS puts the version date in the lower left corner—a useful check for downloaded templates and paper supplies. The agency says the transition period gives employers time to adjust their business processes. [S1][S2]

The visible form changes are narrow. USCIS added Eswatini and North Macedonia to the country-of-issuance field in Section 1 and the foreign-passport issuing-authority field in Section 2. Those additions appear only in the computer-fillable form. The instructions also clarify who may act as an employer’s authorized representative and which documents are acceptable, and update the procedure for requesting paper copies. Familiar-looking boxes on a printed form do not show the whole update. [S1][S2]

For existing employees, the January notice draws a different line: employers do not need the new form for someone who already has a properly completed I-9 on file, unless reverification applies. USCIS warns that unnecessary verification may violate the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision. The revision itself is therefore not a reason to launch a company-wide request for fresh identity or work-authorization documents. [S1]

Completed I-9s remain part of the employer’s records. The notice says they must be kept throughout employment and, after an employee leaves, until the later of three years after hiring or one year after employment ends. They must also be available for inspection by the specified federal agencies. A form becoming obsolete for new use is not permission to remove an employee’s completed form from the records. [S1]

Source documents

  1. Introduction of a New Version of Employment Eligibility Verification Formhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-01-31/html/2020-01821.htm
  2. New Form I-9 Releasedhttps://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-related-news/policy-related-news-archive/new-form-i-9-released