Employers who meet four requirements may choose an alternative procedure in lieu of physically examining Form I-9 documentation that had been examined remotely under the COVID-19 flexibilities.
To qualify for the alternative procedure, the employer must have:
- Performed remote examination of an employee’s documents between March 20, 2020, and July 31, 2023;
- Been enrolled in E-Verify at the time they completed the Form I-9 for that employee;
- Created a case in E-Verify for that employee (except for reverification); and
- Currently be enrolled in and continue to participate in E-Verify.
Employers must not create another E-Verify case based on the second remote document examination. To learn more about fully completing the E-Verify process and closing cases, visit our Verification Process page.
Employers who do not meet all four requirements must perform an in-person physical examination of documents by August 30, 2023. Employers who have already completed the physical document examination and updated their Forms I-9 need not take any further action.
Note: If you were not enrolled in E-Verify during the COVID-19 flexibilities, between March 20, 2020, and July 21, 2023, enrolling in E-Verify now does not allow you to create E-Verify cases for your existing employees in order to take advantage of remote examination of documents using the new alternative procedure authorized by DHS. E-Verify cases may only be created for new hires from the date your company enrolls. E-Verify prohibits employers (except covered Federal contractors) from creating cases for existing employees. You may enroll in E-Verify to take advantage of the alternative procedure for new hires starting on Aug. 1, 2023.