New form I-9 in effect now

A new official revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 is available (and required) for employers to use now, with a revision date of 03/08/13 located on the bottom left-hand corner of the form.

Employers should begin using this new form immediately. The new form and the instructions are available for free online at DOL.gov.

The key revisions to Form I-9 are:

• Additional data fields, including the employee’s foreign passport information (if applicable) and telephone and e-mail addresses; and
• Revising the layout of the form, and expanding the form from one to two pages (not including the form instructions and the List of Acceptable Documents).

A 60-day grace period has been provided, so that prior Form I-9 versions (08/07/09) and (02/02/2009) will no longer be accepted after May 7, 2013.

A Spanish-language version of the new Form I-9 and instructions is available for use in Puerto Rico only (although it can be used elsewhere as a guide for employee translation purposes). 

Employers are required to maintain Forms I-9 for as long as an individual works for the employer and for the required retention period for the termination of an individual’s employment, which is either three years after the date of hire or one year after the date employment ended, whichever is later.

Failure of an employer to ensure proper completion and retention of Forms I-9 may subject the employer to civil monetary penalties, and, in some cases, criminal penalties.

Employers do not need to complete the new Form I-9 for current employees for whom there is already a properly completed Form I-9 on file, unless re-verification applies.

A new 70-page Employer Handbook regarding the I-9 form is also available at the Department of Labor website.