Employment eligibility verification form revisions

You’ll soon need to start using an updated Form I-9. Changes to the form are about to be rolled out.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says it’s making changes so employers can:

Reduce technical errors, and

Complete the form on a computer.

After the initial comment period ended Jan 25, 2016, USCIS decided to tweak the employment eligibility verification form a little more.

That pushed the introduction of the new form back, with employers having until April 27, 2016, to make additional comments.

Once the Office of Management and Budget approves the changes, you’ll find the revised form on the USCIS website, I-9 Central.

What to look for

Here are 11 impending changes:

Change #1 Certain fields will have validations to ensure information is entered correctly.

Change #2 You’ll have additional spaces for entering information about multiple preparers and translators.

Change #3 You’ll find drop-down list and calendars.

Change #4 Embedded instructions will help you complete each field.

Change #5 Buttons will allow you to access the instructions electronically, print the form and clear the form.

Change #7 A quick-response matrix barcode, or QR code, will be generated once the form is printed, to streamline audit processes.

Change #8 In Section 1, you’ll have to provide only other last names used, not all other names used.

Change #9 In Section 1, the requirement that aliens authorized to work provide both their Form I-94 number and their foreign passport information has been removed.

Change #10 the forms and instructions will be separate.

Change #11 A supplement has been added for situations where more than one preparer or translator is used.