All United States employers are required to complete Form I-9 for each employee hired. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a new version of Form I-9 in October 2019, and this new version will become mandatory for use with all new hires after April 30, 2020.
Employers are not required to update existing employees’ Form I-9s—the new form must simply be used for all new hires going forward. Employers that fail to use the new version of Form I-9 after April 30, 2020 may be subject to penalties for violation of Section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
This version contains minor changes to the form and its instructions. Most of the changes are in the drop-down selections while completing the online fillable PDF form and in the form’s instructions. The list of acceptable documents remains unchanged. The adapted instructions include clarifications on acceptable documents to establish work authorization and identity. The instructions also contain additional details on who can complete a Form I-9 as an authorized representative of an employer.
The latest version has a October 21, 2019 on the bottom of the form.
If you have any questions relating to compliance with the updated Form I-9 or any other Form I-9 questions, please contact Matthew O. Wagner, Alicia Visse-Kroger, or any other attorney in Frost Brown Todd’s Immigration Group.