New I-9 Form

In an attempt to crack down on businesses that are hiring illegal immigrants a change was recently implemented on December 26, 2007. The Department of Homeland Security has introduced a new Form I-9 or Employment Eligibility Verification Form. Failure to use the new form may result in penalties.

The new Form I-9 is a more elaborate form that has eliminated five formerly accepted types of documentation for identification and work eligibility purposes. The documentation no longer accepted includes: unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571), unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327), Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151), U.S. Citizenship Certificate (Form N-560 or N-570) and the Naturalization Certificate (Form N-550 or N-570).

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services eliminated these documents since they lack anti-counterfeit features.

The new Form I-9 can be accessed at http://www.uscis.gov/i-9

The revised M-274, Handbook for Employers, can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf