All Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, requirements remain in effect for areas affected by the 2023 Hawaii wildfire. All employers must continue to complete and retain Form I-9 for all individuals they hire.

The new version of Form I‑9, Employment Eligibility Verification is now available for use. This version contains changes to the form and instructions, including shortening the Form I‑9 to one page and reducing the instructions to eight pages.

Initial Verification Process

The E-

Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is the key element of E-Verify’s web-based employment eligibility verification. E-Verify electronically compares information the employer enters from Form I-9 to records available to the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This verification confirms an employee’s eligibility to work in the United States.

Although E-Verify uses information from Form I-9, there are some important differences between Form I-9 and E-Verify requirements.

DHS is ending the COVID-19 Temporary Policy for List B Identity Documents. Beginning May 1, Employers will no longer be able to accept expired List B documents.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced an extension of the flexibility in complying with requirements related to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, due to COVID-19.  

This temporary guidance was set to expire November 19. Because of ongoing precautions related to COVID-19, DHS has extended this policy until December 31, 2020. 

USCIS released a revised M-274, Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9, with expanded information on properly completing Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

Revisions include updates based on the recent Form I-9 release, as well as policy changes and clarifications.

Completing Form I-9

When completing or updating Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, follow the chart below to determine which documents a current TPS beneficiary of Syria may present, as well as the new expiration date of their automatically extended EADs:

More than 80% of employees present a driver’s license or state-issued identification (ID) card as proof of identity for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Employers enter information from their new hires’ Form I-9 into E-Verify and create a case. E-Verify compares that information against records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

If photo matching is triggered, employers must confirm that the photo displayed in E-Verify is identical to the photo on the document the employee presented for Section 2 of their Form I-9.

Photo matching is triggered automatically if an employee presented: