Are you ready?
Do you have a plan?
For the I-9 in person inspections due August 30th?
As a reminder, the purpose of the I-9 form is to ensure employers are only hiring people who are legally allowed to work in the US. The I-9 form ensures verification of identity and employment authorization.
Since March 2020 during COVID, the standards for in person I-9 verification were relaxed. Employers have been allowed to complete virtual or remote I-9 verification. This flexibility of remote I-9 verification ends on July 31. Employers will have until August 30 to complete the in-person inspections for those employees hired on or after March 20, 2020, who received only a virtual/remote examination.
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) guidelines, the same employer representative who reviewed the documents virtually will need to conduct the in-person document review. If the same employer representative is unavailable, the employer representative needs to complete a new Section 2 of the I-9 form and attach that to the complete remote inspection I-9 form. Or if an employee is still working remotely, it may require relying on an authorized representative to complete Section 2 of the I-9 form. Please note the Section 2 “additional information“ field should be updated to “documents physically examined” with the date of inspection (previously entered “COVID-19”).
Don’t panic! If you have any questions regarding I-9 compliance, please call or email Leslie Even, leslie@turkelaw.com or (608) 575-3836.