Employers may continue to use the current United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, after its expiration date of October 31, 2022. According to the USCIS, a new version of the Form I-9 will be published via Federal Register notice once it becomes available. Keeping updated on which version of the Form I-9 is used is important for employers as a failure to use the approved current version can result in administrative penalties.

Employers are also reminded that Form I-9 flexibilities due to COVID-19 are extended through October 31, 2022. Temporary flexibilities were set to expire April 20, 2022, but because of ongoing COVID-19 concerns the extension was approved through the new October deadline.

Flexible rules apply in the following situations:

• When workplaces are temporarily shut down due to the pandemic; or
• When new hires and employees who need to update temporary work authorizations are subject to quarantine or “no travel” orders.

Despite the continued flexibility rules, employers are encouraged to begin, at their discretion, the in-person verification of identity and employment eligibility documentation for employees hired on or after March 20, 2020, and who presented such documents for remote inspection in reliance on the flexibilities first accounted in March 2020. 

To stay up to date on when important Form I-9 extensions end and normal operations may resume, employers are encouraged to monitor USCIS’s Workforce Enforcement announcements.