US
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a notice and comment
request in the Federal Register regarding proposed changes to Form I-9,
Employment Eligibility Verification. Form I-9 must be completed by an employer
for all newly hired employees to verify their identity and authorization to
work in the US
According
to USCIS, the changes are needed because, despite the agency’s efforts to
improve the form and instructions, employers and employees continue to make
errors when filling out the form. Many of the proposed changes would reduce
technical errors and help employers and employees complete the form on their
computers after downloading it.
For
example, the proposed form would:
●
Check
certain fields to ensure information is entered correctly;
●
Provide
additional spaces to enter multiple preparers and translators;
●
Include
drop-down lists and calendars;
●
Provide
instructions on the screen that users can access to complete each field;
●
Include
buttons that will allow users to access the instructions electronically, print
the form, and clear the form to enable users to start over;
●
Provide
a dedicated area to enter additional information that employers are currently
required to notate in the margins of the form; and
●
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’s
practices.
Comments,
which will be accepted until January 25, 2016, may be submitted electronically.
After the comment-period ends, USCIS may make changes to the Form I-9 based on
comments received and will publish a second notice in the Federal Register.
Employers should continue to use the current
version of Form I-9 until further notice.
No comments:
Post a Comment