November 23, 2016

Starting January 22, All Employers Must Use the New I-9 Form Dated November 14, 2016

No later than January 22, 2017, all U.S. employers must begin using the new I-9 form, published November 14, for all new hires and I-9 re-verifications. Employers may start using the new form now, and are encouraged to do so. The new I-9 form and separate instructions are available at https://www.uscis.gov/i-9.

The new I-9 form includes drop-down menus keyed to certain fields. This makes it easier for both employee and employer to complete their respective portions of the form, and reduces chance of error. Also included are “prompts” to insure that information is entered correctly.

The new I-9 instructions are separate from the form and include substantive guidance. Employers have the option of using the form-filling technology or printing a hard copy of the form to fill by hand. The new I-9 includes a box on page 2 for the employer to write notes regarding corrections or to specify an E-Verify case number.

Note that the new I-9 form cannot be electronically signed. It must be printed after completion, and the printed form must be hand-signed. This does not prohibit the employer from continuing to use an electronic signature with an I-9 form created by the employer, as long as the created document conforms to all fields on the new I-9 form.

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