On January 31, 2020, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a new version of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Employers may begin using this version of the form immediately and are required to begin using it by April 30, 2020.

The Form I-9 is used by employers to verify the identity of employees (both citizens and non-citizens) and confirm that the employee is authorized to work in the United States.  USCIS has made the following minor changes to the form and its instructions:

  • Added Eswatini (formerly the Kingdom of Swaziland) and North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia) to the Country of Issuance field in Section 1 and the foreign passport issuing authority field in Section 2 because those countries recently changed names (these changes are only visible when completing the fillable Form I-9 on a computer);
  • Clarified who can act as an authorized representative on behalf of an employer;
  • Updated the USCIS website addresses;
  • Provided acceptable document clarifications;
  • Updated the process for requesting the paper Form I-9; and
  • Updated the DHS Privacy Notice.

Although the new form must be used beginning in April, it is marked “(Rev. 10/21/2019).”  Employers can download the new form here.