Form I-9 Flexibilities Ending: Check Documents by August 30

June 12, 2023

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now announced that the deadline is firm, and employers that were taking advantage of the COVID-19-related flexibility will have until August 30, 2023, to do in-person verifications of employment documents that were only inspected virtually. Continue reading for the official announcement, FAQs, and tips for notating remote I-9s.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has provided a very useful FAQ as well as instructions on how to notate Form I-9 when inspected in person after originally being inspected virtually.

Next Steps
If you haven’t kept a list of those employees whose documents were inspected virtually, pull that information together and determine who will serve as your authorized representative to inspect the documents in person.

Once you know whose documents need to be inspected and their work location, you may be able to save both time and money on travel with a bit of strategy. You can have different authorized representatives for different regions. This job can be assigned to anyone you’d trust with a sensitive task. Given that employers are liable for any violations in connection with the form or the verification process, you should choose someone who can pay attention to detail and train them on exactly how you want the verification done. You can also outsource the role of an authorized representative to a law firm, notary, or someone else who can legally offer this service.

Finally, consider having someone from your HR team remotely oversee the in-person inspection (via phone call, video, or messaging app) to ensure a consistent process is followed as well as to be available to address any questions or concerns from the employee or person acting as the authorized representative.

Click here to read the announcement.