Just when employers were embracing the (other) new Form I-9, the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) has once again updated Form I-9, with a new revision date of “07/17/17 N”. Employers may start to use the revised form immediately, but the revised I-9 does not need to be used exclusively until September 18, 2017. The revised I-9 can be found on the USCIS website: www.uscis.gov/i-9.

What is new and revised? A few revisions to the instructions and, more importantly, the list of acceptable employment authorization documents. Specifically, List C now allows a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) as evidence.  In addition, USCIS has combined onto List C #2 all the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350 and Form FS-240). Thus, the List C documents were renumbered (except the social security card).

Finally, the USCIS issued a revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-247). While I’m not often “wooed” with government “guidance” documents such as this, this particular handbook is actually very helpful and useful for employers. For example, it addresses when certain documents can expire without re-verification, and when others need to be re-verified upon expiration (hint: all documents must be unexpired when first presented). However, given its content, it was extremely long; the revised handbook is indeed much easier to navigate and a great place for employers to start with I-9 questions.