The federal government recently announced that a new I-9 form is on the way. What’s going to change, and what does it mean to HR?

Here’s an overview of the changes in a set of new I-9 rules proposed last week by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS):

1. No expired documents

The biggest change: Expired documents will no longer be accepted for employment verification.

Right now, passports and all List B documents are acceptable even if they’re expired. But the Department of Homeland Security wants to do away with that, because expired IDs are more prone to fraudulent use and harder to verify as authentic.

2. Changes to the list of acceptable documents

The new rule also removes three documents from List A: the “Temporary Resident Card” (form I-688) and “Employment Authorization Cards” (Forms I-688A and I-688B). USCIS no longer issues those cards, and any that are in circulation have expired by now.

Instead, people are issued Form I-766, which remains on the list.

Also, the new I-9 will add to List A:

• the U.S. Passport Card to List A (a cheaper passport alternative only valid for land or sea travel that the Department of State started issuing earlier this year)
• foreign passports containing machine-readable visas, and
• passports from certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

3. Technical changes

The new form also makes a few minor, technical changes in language and wording. For example, references to “employment eligibility” are replaced with “employment authorization.” Also, employees can now attest to being a “noncitizen national of the United States” (people born in American Samoa and the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands).

When is it official?

How soon will you have to use the new form? The feds are collecting comments on the new rule now, after which a final rule will be published in the Federal Register. The new form will be required starting 45 days after publication. We’ll keep you posted when the date is set.

To view the new form and submit comments, go here.

Tags: employment authorization, I-9, USCIS