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As an I-9 Administrator or as an Authorized Representative, when you are completing Section 2 for employees with "Alien" status, you will notice a new document title "I-797, Notice of Action" added in List C. This document is treated the same as if the employee presented a valid receipt for an acceptable document. After normal operations are resumed, when the employee presents new evidence of employment authorization, then initiate receipt update process and update "I-797, Notice of Action" with the actual document. The employees may present their new EAD or any other acceptable document from either List A or List C as new evidence of employment authorization.

The following example shows the details of completing Section 2 using "I-797, Notice of Action". Click on List C drop down and select "I-797- Notice of Action" from the list.

This document will not be available in List C once the COVID-19 event is deactivated.

The following message displays as soon as you select "I-797 - Notice of Action".

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According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Form I-797 - Notice of Action showing approval of the EAD application is acceptable for completing Form I-9 when reverifying the current employees. Employees who require Reverification may present this document for completing Form I-9 until COVID event is disabled.

The following example shows the details of completing Section 3 using "I-797, Notice of Action" when the event is active. Click on the Document Title and select "I-797- Notice of Action" from the drop down.

The following message displays as soon as you select "I-797 - Notice of Action".

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Enter other details of the document and complete Section 3. When the New Hire presents actual document, initiate Reverification Correction and replace I-797 - Notice of Action with the new document.

How do you complete Form I-9 tasks after the COVID-19 event ends?

The Form I-9 requirement flexibility which was granted earlier this year in the event of COVID-19, is going to end by the end of this year. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced Dec 31, 2020 as the end date for the flexibility in Form I-9 physical document review and the temporary policy on List B documents. Till now, there have been several extensions for the end date by DHS and the latest is until the end of this year.

As per the DHS announcement, the physical verification of employee’s employment eligibility documents must be completed within three days after the event is disabled. Also, the transactions with expired List B Document accepted as a receipt during COVID-19 event with reason code ‘COVID-19: RUP’, must be updated with a valid unexpired document within 90 days. Keeping in view of these requirements, two App Engines are going to be scheduled to run after the COVID-19 event is disactivated. The first AE (SI9_CVD19_PI) runs only once after the COVID-19 event ends to target the transactions with 'COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay' and initiate the Section 2 correction process, and the second AE (SI9_CVD19_RU) will be scheduled to run in recurrence for 90 days after 3 days of inactivation of the COVID-19 Event i.e from 4^th day of the event termination to capture the ‘Receipt Update Required’ transactions and initiate the Section 2 Correction process. 

Complete physical verification of employee’s employment eligibility documents

These transactions will be captured when the first AE runs for Physical Inspection Delay. The transactions that have been completed with "COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay" during COVID-19 period will be identified by this AE and I-9 Section2 correction process is initiated for such transactions. The I-9 Specialist must complete the physical verification of employee's employment eligibility documents and record the details in Section 2. This process must be completed within three days after COVID-19 event expiry to keep up with the Form I-9 compliance.

For all the affected transactions, the I-9 Section 2 correction page will be auto completed with Reason "Add/Update Notes in Addl Info” and E-Verify "No" by default. When I-9 Section2 correction process is initiated, the process routes to Section 2 activity bypassing the I-9 Section 2 Correction Reason page. After Section 2, there will be no E-Verify for these transactions. In case, if E-Verify is pending such as in Receipt Update Required transactions, then they will have E-Verify activity routed when picked up by the second AE.

Few scenarios with examples are explained below:

Case 1: COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay with COVID-19 EXT: Extended Indefinitely

Primary flow Section 2 is completed with "COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay" and "COVID-19 EXT: Extended Indefinitely".

After running the First AE, you can access the I-9 Section2 Correction process in My Task console or through Elasticsearch My Tasks.

My Tasks Console:

Elasticsearch My Tasks:

When clicked on “Complete I-9” link, the Section 2 page opens in edit mode. The section 2 correction process inherits COVID-19 related Additional Information reason codes “COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay” and “COVID-19 EXT: Extended Indefinitely” from the primary flow. This, you can observe in the Additional Information field.

While completing Section 2, changing the document details is optional. If you have unexpired List B identity documents provided by the candidate, then update with the new document details. Otherwise, keep the primary flow documents as it is and complete the activity.

In this example, we are saving section 2 without changing the documents.

Note: After save, the “COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay” reason code displayed in the Additional Information will disappear.

Check “I Agree” and click on “Electronically Sign” button to complete Section 2.

Case 2: COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay with COVID-19 RUP: Receipt Update Required

Primary flow: Section 2 is completed with COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay and COVID-19 RUP: Receipt Update Required.

After running the First AE, you can access the I-9 Section2 Correction process in My Task console or through Elasticsearch My Tasks.

My Tasks Console:

Elasticsearch My Tasks:

When clicked on “Complete I-9” link, the Section 2 page opens in edit mode. The Section 2 correction process inherits COVID-19 related Additional Information reason codes “COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay” and “COVID-19 RUP: Receipt Update Required” from the primary flow. This, you can see in the Additional Information field.

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While completing Section 2, changing the document details is optional. If the candidate has presented actual documents for which the receipt was submitted, then update with the new document details. Otherwise, save/complete the activity without changing the documents.

In this example, we are saving section 2 without changing the documents.

Note: After save, the “COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay” reason code displayed in the Additional Information will disappear. Check “I Agree” and click on “Electronically Sign” button to complete Section 2.

Note: This transaction will be picked up for the Receipt Update process and go through the E-Verify activity when the second AE is run.

Case 3: Covid-19: Physical Inspection Delay and List B identity documents, "ID card issued by state/territory" or "Driver's license issued by state/territory" with future expiry date

Primary flow: Section 2 is completed with Covid-19: Physical Inspection Delay and List B identity documents, "ID card issued by state/territory" or "Driver's license issued by state/territory" with future expiry date.

After running the First AE, you can access the I-9 Section2 Correction process in My Task console or through Elasticsearch My Tasks.

My Tasks Console:

Elasticsearch My Tasks:

When clicked on “Complete I-9” link, the Section 2 page opens in edit mode. The Section 2 Correction process inherits COVID-19 related Additional Information reason code “COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay” from the primary flow. This you can see in the Additional Information field.

Changing the document details is optional.

Since the future date is already provided for the List B documents in the primary flow, there is no need to change the document details unless required when you save/sign Section 2.

Note: After save, the “COVID-19: Physical Inspection Delay” reason code displayed in the Additional Information will disappear.

Check “I Agree” and click on “Electronically Sign” to complete Section 2.