DHS Ends Form I-9 Requirement Flexibility

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers had to make significant changes to the way employees were hired and onboarded due to the physical precautions set in place across the nation. One of those changes included how employers verified an employee’s authorization to work in the United States via Form I-9. Initially announced in March 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided employers with the flexibility to examine employees’ identification and employment authorization documents remotely (e.g., over video link, fax, or email), with the expectation that physical examination of these documents would occur in the future.

New DHS Announcement and Deadlines

DHS has recently announced that employers now have until August 30, 2023 to perform all required physical examination of identification and employment authorization documents for individuals hired after March 20, 2020 and who have only received a remote examination under the flexibilities.

However, DHS clarifies that employers who used the flexibilities during the pandemic (March 20, 2020, to July 31, 2023) will not be required to physically examine the documentation of those hired under those flexibilities so long as the employer:

• Was enrolled in E-Verify at the time of hire, or;
• Created an E-Verify case for that employee and;
• Performed the remote inspection between March 20, 2020, and July 31, 2023

Unless these conditions are met, employers must physically inspect the documentation of those hires whose identification or employment authorization documents were examined remotely no later than August 30, 2023. This requirement also applies to re-verification as well.

Remote Work and In-Person Document Inspection

Our company began operating remotely during COVID-19 and will not return to work in the office. Must we still conduct the in-person document inspection for each employee whom we hired or reverified while using the COVID-19 remote inspection flexibilities?

Yes. Employers must physically examine documents for those employees who were hired on or after March 20, 2020, and for whom the employer has to date only conducted a remote inspection consistent with the flexibilities first announced in March 2020. Employers will have 30 days after the end date of the flexibilities on July 31, 2023 – that is, until August 30, 2023 – to complete an in-person physical inspection.

If our employees are all working across the country rather than in my location, how can I complete the in-person inspection? Are there alternative options?

To read more, check out the original article published on?EnformHR, LLC.