1/19/2009 - Revised I-9 Form Released by USCIS

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released a new edition of the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form. This form must be completed by almost all U.S. employers for all new hires since November of 2006, normally in the first three days of employment (or on the first day if the employment will last only one day).

Employers must document on the I-9 that a new hire has shown documentation of eligibility to accept employment. Most changes to the form in this revision concern the types of documentation which are acceptable. Older forms of the Employment Authorization card have been eliminated, while new additions include the new passport card, Machine-Readable immigrant visa stamps now being issued at U.S. consular posts abroad, and passports as well as other citizenship documents from the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Perhaps the most significant change is that expired documents - previosly acceptable for List A U.S. passports, List B identity documents, and List C expired Temporary Protected Status Employment Authorization Cards (if TPS had been extended) - are no longer acceptable once the new I-9 form goes into effect.

Until February 2, 2009, Employers should use the current edition which became effective June 5, 2007. The USCIS web site contains both editions of the form here.