When you hire an employee, you’re required by the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS ) to complete and retain a Form I-9. If you have some copies of this form on hand, you can use them through October 31 – but after that, you could face penalties if you don’t switch to the new version (with the catchy subtitle of OMB No.1615-0047) issued on August 1.

According to the Lake Effect blog, some of the main changes are: 

• Sections 1 and 2 have been reduced to a single-sided sheet
• The form is now designed to be filled in on tablets and mobile devices
• The Lists of Acceptable Documents page has been revised to include some acceptable receipts and provide guidance and links to information on automatic extensions of employment authorization documentation

Some employers participate in a government program called E-Verify, and the Form I-9 now has new procedures for remotely examining identity and employment authorization documents (instead of doing this in person).  E-Verify is an Internet-based system set up by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that “compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm employment eligibility.”  

E-Verify is available for businesses of all sizes, so if you regularly bring new employees board, you might want to enroll your shop.  But whether you take this step or not, you’ll want to print out some of the new version of the I-9 form by clicking on this link. 

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder