I-9

By Jennifer Pawlak I always get great questions during my webinars, and some follow up questions afterwards, so thanks to all who attended my I-9 Tips, Tricks, and Updates webinar in May and asked questions! If you missed it, you can check it out here. Here are some of the questions and answers from you: Q: How much notice does ICE give you that you are going to be audited before they come onsite? A: None. Q: We have a sizeable union workforce and there are times that during an internal audit their I-9 cannot be found. When asked to complete a new one, [...]

New Immigration Legislation Necessitates Enhanced I-9 Compliance See It Live On the News ROCHESTER, N.Y. (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 02, 2021 A slew of executive orders have been signed by President Joe Biden. Amongst new COVID-19 legislation and reinforcing a commitment to combating discrimination, there are several immigration-related orders. The Biden Administration’s executive orders will open up both work- and family-based permanent residence processing and end the “Muslim Ban.” Additionally, there is legislation being prepared which would create a path to citizenship for many other people currently living in the United States and abroad. This means that your organization will [...]

By Jennifer Pawlak Back in October, I hosted a webinar called I-9 Tips, Tricks, and Updates that garnered a few good questions I wanted to share with a wider audience! You can download the webinar and slides here if you'd like to watch it. While I've got your attention, I wanted to let you know I've two more I-9 webinars in 2021. The first is in May and will be an updated version of the October webinar; that one is intended for anyone. Then in October, I'll be hosting a "beyond the form" webinar that will be a deeper dive for [...]

By Jennifer Pawlak I know a lot of you have been doing the best you can with onboarding during this time with the limited resources that you have. As I discussed with you in March, USCIS issued some rules about how to remotely verify Section 2 documents during stay-at-home orders. See that post here. In today's update, I wanted to go over three recent publications that also affect your day-to-day operations. Please carefully review this information with the official updates and how-tos from USCIS. But first, read on for a quick overview! Expired List B Documents List B documents are documents that [...]

By The I-9 Team On Friday, March 20, 2020, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued temporary guidance allowing for flexibility in I-9 document verification. Please carefully read the official press release here. "Employers with employees taking physical proximity precautions due to COVID-19 will not be required to review the employee’s identity and employment authorization documents in the employee’s physical presence." This means that you have the option to review copies of Section 2 documents or you may review them over video. The 3-day rule still applies. Once normal operations resume, you must review the documents in person, in their original form, [...]

By Jennifer Pawlak That's right - finally! The new form and updated instructions can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9 The form itself is substantively unchanged - great news (depending on what you think of the old form)! And some of the instructions have actually been clarified - great news again! The new version has a 10/21/19 revision date and can be used starting today, or you can continue to use the 07/17/17 N version until April 30. However, starting May 1, you may only use the new form. Penalties exist for using an outdated form. I've previously advised that you [...]

By Jennifer Pawlak So here we are: the end of a year and the end of a decade! Have you started thinking about your plans for 2020? Be they personal or professional, end-of-the-old-year reminiscing and beginning-of-the-new-year planning is upon us. I wanted to give you a quick rundown of some of the I-9-related happenings this year to help you reflect on your year (or decade!) and plan for the future. (I find that I read a lot of lists at the end of the year, so I'm presenting these to you also as a list, partly because it's the [...]

The reality of the above is more prevalent today as organizations increasingly offer work-from-home options or have offices located around the country. New employees may never actually see an HR representative in person before starting their role.

Short answer: you do nothing. You keep using the current form until the government issues a new form (or tell us when to stop using the current form). I know this feels wrong, but it really is the right answer.