Summary of Changes to Employer I-9 Form

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has released the minutes of a recent stakeholder teleconference, discussing the redesign of the Form I-9. As of May 7, 2013, all employers are required to use this updated version of the form, which can be found online at www.uscis.gov/I-9Central.

The text of the stakeholder minutes and executive summary can be found here.

Changes include:

• Clearer instructions;
• Adoption of a one column format;
• Renaming the “Maiden Name” field to “Other Names Used (if any)” field.
• New drop-down boxes in the electronic PDF version of the form;
• Optional fields in Section 1 to collect the employee’s email address and telephone number;
• Additional, required fields in Section 1 to collect the employee’s foreign passport number and country of issuance if the employee is providing an I-94 admission number;
• An employee name field on page two of the form;
• Additional fields added to List A to accommodate situations where an employee presents a combination of documents to satisfy the List A requirement; and
• A separation of the former “Business Name and Address” field into two fields: “Employer’s Business Name” and “Employer’s Business Address.”

For more information on the new Form I-9, download the updated Handbook for Employers, Guidance for Completing Form I-9.