Information contained in this publication is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or opinion, nor is it a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney.
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On April 15, 2011, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule (pdf), effective May 16, 2011, governing the types of acceptable identity and employment authorization documents and receipts that an employee may present to an employer when completing Form I-9. The final rule adopts without change an interim rule (pdf) that was published on December 17, 2008, and has been in effect since April 3, 2009.
As noted in the Questions and Answers posted to the USCIS website, the final rule:
- prohibits employers from accepting expired documents; and
- makes the following changes to the List of Acceptable Documents (“List A”):
- Eliminates: identity and employment authorization documentation Forms I-688, I-688A, and I-688B (Temporary Resident Card and outdated employment authorization cards).
- Adds: foreign passports containing temporary I-551 printed notations on certain machine-readable immigrant visas.
- Adds as evidence of identity and employment authorization: valid passports for citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI); Forms I-94 or I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association between the United States and FSM or RMI.
Because the final rule makes no changes to the interim rule, USCIS will not be issuing a new Form I-9. Employers may continue to use the current Form I-9 (Rev. 08/07/2009) or the prior version (Rev. 02/02/2009).