U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) discontinued the temporary COVID-19 policy allowing employers to accept expired List B documents for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, on April 30 [I-9 Central, DHS to End COVID-19 Temporary Policy for Expired List B Identity Documents, 4-6-22]. Employers now have until July 31 to update employees’ Forms I-9, if required.
Updating Forms I-9
If employees presented an expired List B document between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, employers are required to update these employees’ Forms I-9 by July 31, 2022, if they are still employed.
Employees will need to provide an unexpired document that establishes their identity. Employees may give the employer the renewed List B document, a different List B document, or a document from List A.
In the Additional Information field of section 2, the employer should enter under the notation “COVID-19”: the document’s title, issuing authority, number, and expiration date. The employer should initial and date the change. USCIS provided an example of how to update Form I-9.
If the List B document expiration was auto-extended by the issuing authority, USCIS considers the document as unexpired when presented. No action is required by the employer because the document was unexpired when presented. Also, if the employee is no longer employed, the employer does not need to take any action.
To learn more about federal and state laws, regulations, and information to keep your company’s payroll operations in compliance, check out Payroll Source Plus!
Jyme Mariani, Esq., is Managing Editor of Payroll Currently and Senior Manager of Payroll Information Resources for the APA.
