The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 in an effort to help diminish some of the confusion surrounding the completion of the form.  As most employers are aware, all employers in the United States are required to complete a Form I-9 for every employee hired in order to verify that the individual is authorized to work in the United States.

Although employers have a 60-day grace period until May 7, 2013 to begin using the new form, employers should begin using the new form immediately as a best practice.  The new Form I-9 must be used for new hires, re-verifications of current employees, and re-hires.  No action is required of employers with regard to their current employees for which re-verification is not necessary.

The new version of the Form I-9 includes the following substantive changes from the prior version:

• The new version is now two (2) pages in length instead of one (1) page.
• The “Instructions” for completing the Form I-9 have expanded from slightly more than two (2) pages to six (6) full pages in an attempt to provide clarity to both employers and employees.
• Section 1 of the Form I-9 (completed by the employee): (A) includes new fields for e-mail address and phone number, (B) changes the “Maiden Name” field to “Other Names Used,” and (C) requires an alien authorized to work in the United States to provide either an A Number or a Form I-94 Admission Number.
• Section 2 of the Form I-9 (completed by the employer) includes additional space in List A and enumerates the employer certifications.

The new Form I-9 is available in English and Spanish from the following link to the USCIS website:  www.uscis.gov/i-9.