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Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced flexibility in Form I-9 requirements. The DHS has announced a temporary policy regarding expired List B identity documents used to complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. According to this, the List B identity documents, "State ID" or "Driver's License" are acceptable even if they are expired on or after March 1, 2020. Also, the DHS announced flexibility in Form I-9 physical document review. Employers while onboarding the New Hires, can put on hold the in-person verification of Form I-9 employment eligibility documents until the COVID-19 national emergency is terminated. In accordance with these requirements, we have enabled few system level changes in Form I-9 Processing. The changes that have been made in the system are explained in detail in the following sections.
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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.
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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.
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The following message displays as soon as you select "I-797 - Notice of Action".
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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.
The I-9 Specialist will receive an email notification with the total number of Form I-9s that are affected by the first AE. A sample email notification is given below:
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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.
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The transactions that have been completed with "COVID-19 RUP: Receipt Update Required" during COVID-19 period will be identified by the second AE and I-9 Section2 correction process is initiated for such transactions.
The I-9 Specialist will receive an email notification with the total number of Form I-9s that are affected by the second AE. A sample email notification is given below:
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When I-9 Section2 correction process is initiated, the process routes to Section 2 activity bypassing the I-9 Section 2 Correction Reason page. The I-9 Section 2 correction page will be auto completed with Reason "COVID-19 Receipt Update Complete” and E-Verify "Yes" by default. Since the receipt transactions do not go through E-Verify in their primary flow, the correction process routes to E-Verify activity after completing Section 2.
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