The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has delayed the implementation of the December 17, 2008 interim final rule entitled "Documents Acceptable for Employment Eligibility Verification" until April 3, 2009. This interim rule amends the regulations regarding the types of acceptable identity and employment authorization documents that employees may present to their employers for completion of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification Form. The interim rule was initially scheduled to become effective on February 2, 2009. On Friday, January 30, 2009, the USCIS announced that the effective date of the interim rule is delayed for 60 days, until April 3, 2009, and it is extending the comment period for this rule for 30 days.
Employers must complete the Form I-9 for all individuals they hire for employment in the United States in order to verify the individuals' identity and employment authorization. Under the interim rule, employers will no longer be able to accept expired documents to verify employment authorization on the Form I-9. The rules also adds a new document to the list of acceptable documents, and makes several technical corrections and updates. The USCIS notice of the delay implementation and additional information is attached herein.