New I-9 Form Announced, Includes Alternative Procedure to Remotely Examine E-Verify Employee Documents

August 11, 2023

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) debuted a new I-9 form available for use as of August 1, 2023. The previous I-9 form, dated “10/19/2019,” may be used through October 31, 2023. Employers must transition to the new I-9 form, dated “08/01/23,” by November 1, 2023. Additionally, employers who use E-Verify may now examine employee work authorization documents remotely. 

Highlights to Form I-9 Changes

  • Sections 1 and 2 have been reduced to a single page, and some fields have been combined.  

  • Section 1, The Preparer/Translator Certification, area was moved to a separate Supplement A.

  • Section 3, Reverification and Rehire, was moved to a standalone Supplement B.

  • Supplements A and B provide multiple areas for current and subsequent reverifications and allow employers to add supplements as needed.

  • Enabled the form to be filled out on tablets and mobile devices by downloading the form onto the device and opening it in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader app.

  • Expanded guidance to the Lists of Acceptable Documents.

E-Verify Employers

Employers enrolled in E-Verify may now use an alternative procedure to satisfy the requirement to physically examine Form I-9 documents that had been examined remotely. If an employer does not meet all four requirements, then the employer must perform an in-person examination of documents by August 30, 2023. To use the alternative procedure, the employer must have:

  1. Performed a remote examination of an employee’s documents between March 20, 2020, and July 31, 2023;

  2. Been enrolled in E-Verify at the time they completed the I-9 for that employee;

  3. Created a case in E-Verify for that employee (excluding reverification); and

  4. Be currently enrolled in and continue to participate in E-Verify.

Employers who meet the requirements and choose the alternative procedure may remotely examine the I-9 documents by conducting a live video interaction for each employee whose documents were examined remotely and never in-person physically examined. If you previously used fax, email, or a live video interaction to examine your employee’s documents, you must have a live video interaction by August 30, 2023.

You must annotate the Form I-9 with:

  1. “alternative procedure”;

  2. The date of the second remote document examination;

  3. Your initials in Section 2, Additional Information field, or in Section 3, as appropriate.

Note that you should have previously annotated the date of the first remote document examination, so the new annotation should be placed near the prior annotation. An employer should not create another E-Verify case based on the second remote document examination.

For further information, contact Kurker Paget LLC.