On November 24, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a notice in the Federal Register to inform the public of proposed changes to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
Many of the proposed changes to Form I-9 are intended to help reduce technical errors and help customers complete the form on their computer after they have downloaded it from uscis.gov. For instance, the proposed new form:
- Checks certain fields to ensure information is entered correctly;
- Provides additional spaces to enter multiple preparers and translators;
- Includes drop-down lists and calendars;
- Provides instructions on the screen that users can access to complete each field;
- Includes buttons that will allow users to access the instructions electronically, print the form and clear the form to start over;
- Provides a dedicated area to enter additional information that employers are currently required to notate in the margins of the form; and
- Will generate a quick-response matrix barcode, or QR code, once the form is printed and can be used to streamline audit processes.
Other proposed changes include:
- Requiring employees to provide only other last names used in Section 1, rather than all other names used;
- Streamlining the certification in Section 1 for certain foreign nationals; and
- Separating the instructions from the form to bring the form in line with USCIS’ practices.
The public may provide comments on the proposed changes for 60 days, until January 25, 2015.
You may read more information about the Form I-9 here.