The USCIS COVID-19-era Form I-9 policy ends

As the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) COVID-19-era Form I-9 policy ends, employers need to make sure they have updated their relevant Forms I-9 by July 31, 2022.

On May 1, 2020, the USCIS issued a temporary policy allowing an identity document with an expiration on or after March 1, 2020, to be accepted as a List B document. This policy was in response to the COVID-19 closure of offices or reduced services that prevented people from renewing their identity documents.

Two years later, on May 1, 2022, the USCIS announced they were ending this flexibility, and employers had to accept only unexpired documents from List B. Additionally, if an employee presented an expired List B document between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, employers must update their Form I-9 by July 31, 2022.

If the employee is still employed, they must provide an unexpired document that establishes identity — a renewed List B document, a different List B document or a document from List A.  In the “Additional Information” field of Section 2, the employer enters the document’s:

·         Title;

·         Issuing authority;

·         Number; and

·         Expiration.

Then, the employer initials and dates the change.

If the employee is no longer employed or the List B document was automatically extended by the issuing authority, so it was unexpired when presented, you don’t have to take any action to update those Forms I-9.

Reminder: The USCIS has extended the remote Form I-9 document inspection flexibilities — meaning employers whose workforce is operating remotely may inspect the Section 2 identity and employment eligibility documentation remotely — but only until October 31, 2022. This policy is not related to the above expired List B document policy that ended.