The I-9 form is the Employment Eligibility Verification Form required by the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) to verify an employee's identity and eligibility to work. All employees must complete this form and provide original identifications to their employers. The I-9 was revised on December 6, 2007. Employees hired after this date should have completed the new, revised I-9 form (which contains a "revision date" on the form itself) If employees did not sign the new form I-9, employers should have them do it now and include a cover letter explaining that this was done as part of an internal audit in order to comply with the I-9 requirements. Be sure to staple the old form I-9 to the new, signed form I-9 and cover letter.

You can obtain the current, four page I-9 form on-line for free at www.uscis.gov. Please be aware that you are required to provide all four pages to employees (which includes the directions). The employee section must be filled out no later than the first business day that an employee starts work. The employer's section must be completed no later than the third business day. Remember that employers cannot tell an employee which list documents to bring. The employee has the right to provide the employer with either (1) an item from list A or (2) an item from list B and an item from list C. Indeed, the items in list B and C do not even have to be current; they can be expired. Laminated social security cards may also be valid. Simply check whether the back of the card says "invalidated if laminated" before assuming you cannot accept it.

Employers are required to retain I-9s for three (3) years after the date of employment or one year after employment ends, whichever is later. While the law is silent as to where to keep the I-9 forms, it is recommended that they are kept in a separate file, filed alphabetically. Why? Because, when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent comes to audit you, they will ask you to provide all I-9s, alphabetically ordered within three (3) days of request. Save yourself the time in advance!

What does this mean for employers?Conduct an I-9 audit now to ensure compliance. If you identify missing or incorrect I9s during the audit, have the employees complete a new I-9 form but DO NOT discard the original/incomplete I-9. Instead, staple the old one to the new and include a cover page explaining why the change was made. Remember, if you are audited, the penalty for each incorrect or missing I-9 is $1,100.00.