What is the New Form I-9 Policy for COVID-19?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a temporary policy to allow employers to accept expired List B documents when completing the Form I-9 beginning May 1. This new Form I-9 policy for COVID-19 is intended to account for the fact that many people are unable to renew their driver’s licenses or state ID cards at this time due to stay-at-home orders. While some states have extended the expiration of driver’s licenses and state identification cards, which are common List B documents, others have not. The temporary policy addresses both situations.

Temporary Extension for Expired List B Documents That Have Not Been Extended

List B documents that expire on or after March 1, 2020, and have not been extended by the state may be treated the same as if the employee presented a valid receipt for an acceptable document for Form I-9 purposes.

If an employee presents their driver’s license that expired on or after March 1 and it was not extended by the state, employers should:

• Record the documentation information in Section 2 under List B, as applicable; and
• Enter the word “COVID-19” in the Additional Information field.

When the DHS ends this temporary policy, employers must require the employee to provide a valid unexpired document within 90 days. (The replacement for the expired document is preferred, but employees may choose to present a different document or documents to satisfy the I-9 requirements.) At that time, in the Section 2 Additional Information field, employers must:

• Record the number and other required document information from the actual document presented; and
• Initial and date the change.

Procedure for List B Documents That Have Been Extended

If the employee’s List B identity document expired on or after March 1, 2020, and the issuing authority has extended the document expiration date because of COVID-19, the document is acceptable as a List B document for Form I-9 (not as a receipt) during the extension timeframe specified by the issuing authority. In that case, the employer must:

• Enter the document’s expiration date in Section 2; and
• Enter “COVID-19 EXT” in the Additional Information field.

Employers may also attach a copy of a webpage or other notice indicating that the issuing authority has extended the documents. Employers can confirm that their state has auto-extended the expiration date of state IDs and driver’s licenses by checking the state Motor Vehicle Administration or Department of Motor Vehicles website.

The employee is not required to present a valid unexpired List B document later.

E-Verify

Employers participating in E-Verify should use the employee’s expired List B document number from Section 2 of the Form I-9 to create an E-Verify case as usual within three days of the date of hire. Even if a state has automatically extended the employee’s driver’s license because of COVID-19, employers should enter the expiration date as printed on the employee’s document when creating the E-Verify case.

Reminders

Employers are required to complete an employee’s Form I-9 within three days of their first day of work.

The DHS has temporarily suspended the physical presence requirement for fully remote workplaces.

Helpful questions and answers on temporary I-9 and E-Verify policies have been created by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and are available here.

Get all the payroll and HR information you need from our COVID-19 Resource Center.