Employers, Are You Prepared? Form I-9 Remote Verification Policy Ending July 31, 2023!

As employers, we need to stay updated with the latest policies and regulations to ensure compliance and avoid penalties. Crucial to that is the Form I-9, also known as the Employment Eligibility Verification form. This form ensures that employers verify the identity and eligibility of each new employee hired in the United States.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had provided employers with flexibility in completing Form I-9 documents remotely. However, this temporary policy is coming to an end on July 31, 2023. In this blog post, we will discuss in detail what this change means for you and how to prepare for it.

As mentioned earlier, the flexibility provided by the policy that allowed remote verification of Form I-9 will end on July 31, 2023. This means that all employers must complete physical in-person document inspections of employee documents that were remotely verified before that, by August 30, 2023. Employers need to add “documents physically examined” with the date of inspection in the additional information in Section 2 of Form I-9. It’s important to note that failure to update the additional information field by the August 30 deadline can result in penalties. Therefore, it is crucial to take action before the deadline to avoid any potential risks.

For those already familiar with the UKG Ready® solution to track and store Form I-9, the ‘Additional Information’ field is now available for editing. Notes can be added by entering the applicable text into the ‘Additional Information field’ directly on Form I-9 (Team> HR> Forms> Government Forms> I9s). It is essential to ensure that this field is updated before the deadline to avoid any penalty or fine for noncompliance.

As always, it is essential to stay updated with the latest policies and regulations to avoid potential risks and penalties, and we’ll do our very best to keep you informed as we hear about them. Any questions? ask your friendly APlus CSS!