U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) has once again extended the ability of employers to remotely verify the identity and employment authorization documents of new hires who will work off-site due to COVID-19 related precautions.  The option to remotely verify documents for Form I-9 purposes has been extended through July 31, 2023. 

Normally, immigration regulations require that employers physically inspect a new employee’s identity and work authorization documents when completing Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.  However, on March 20, 2020, ICE suspended the physical inspection requirement and began allowing remote verification of identity documents for companies that operated remotely.

On April 1, 2021, ICE modified the policy so that it only applied to fully remote employees. This newest announcement from ICE is another extension of the April 1, 2021 policy. 

Please note that if the employee undertakes in-person employment on a regular, consistent, or predictable basis, the employer will need to complete in-person inspection of I-9 documents within three business days of when they resume in-person employment.

Current (COVID-Related) Protocol for Completing Form I-9s for Remote Employees

New hires who will work exclusively in a remote setting due to COVID-19 do not need to have their identity and employment authorization documents reviewed in-person with the employer. 

Instead, for fully remote employees, employers are required to:

• Inspect Form I-9, Section 2 documents remotely (e.g. over fax, video, email, etc.)

• Obtain, inspect, and retain copies of the documents within three business days 

As a reminder, if the employee starts to come into the office on a regular, consistent or predictable basis, the employer should physically inspect the identity and employment authorization documents in the presence of the employee within three business days of when they resume in-person employment.

The full DHS announcement is available here.

Upcoming Expiry of Form I-9

In related news, DHS has announced that employers should continue to use the current Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, even after it expires on October 31, 2022, until they publish a revised version. We will provide an update once DHS publishes an updated Form I-9. 

This alert is for informational purposes only.  Please contact us if you would like to discuss these developments further.