What changes to the I-9 form took effect as a result of the 2007 revision?

On November 7, 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a revised Form I-9. The revision was implemented to achieve full compliance with the document reduction requirements of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which reduced the number of documents employers could accept from newly hired employees during the employment eligibility verification process.

In 1997, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) published an interim final rule in the Federal Register eliminating some of the documents IIRIRA slated for removal. However, the Form I-9 was not updated to reflect the revised List of Acceptable Documents at that time.

The most significant change to the revised Form I-9 was the elimination of five documents from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:

• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561)

• Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)

• Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-151)

• Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)

• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

One document was added to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:

• Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766)

All the Employment Authorization Documents with photographs that are in circulation are now included as one item on List A (I-688, I-688A, I-688B, I-766).

Instructions regarding Section 1 of the revised form indicate that an employee is not obliged to provide the Social Security Number in Section 1 of Form I-9 unless employed by an employer who participates in E-Verify, an Internet-based system operated by DHS in partnership with SSA that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees (see ¶36,241 ).

Employers may only accept documents listed on the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9 (see ¶36,240 ).

Although the Form I-9 is available in English and Spanish, only employers in Puerto Rico may have employees complete the Spanish version for their records. All other employer may use the Spanish version as a translation guide for Spanish-speaking employees, but must complete the English version and keep it in the employer's records.