COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, will end on July 31, 2023. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that employers must complete in-person physical document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely during the temporary flexibilities by August 30, 2023.
This new announcement gives employers additional time to complete in-person physical inspection of identity and employment authorization documents, and annotate the Form I-9 for this population. These flexibilities were initially announced in March 2020 and updated in March 2021. See I-9 Central Questions and Answers for more information.
DHS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for alternative procedures allowing remote document examination for Form I-9 last year. DHS anticipates publishing a Final Rule in the Federal Register that will implement this proposal.
Just a reminder…
E-Verify Records Disposal
On June 24, 2023, USCIS will dispose of E-Verify records that are more than 10 years old, which are those with a last transaction date on or before Dec. 31, 2012. E-Verify employers have until June 23, 2023, to download case information from the Historic Records Report if they want to retain information about these E-Verify cases.
Employers must record the E-Verify case verification number on the corresponding Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, or attach a copy of the case details page to the Form I-9. Employers should retain the Historic Records Report with the Forms I-9.