June 24, 2005 DHS Issues Rebranded Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form Used During Hiring Process
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that they have updated the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9) to eliminate outdated references to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and its parent agency, the Department of Justice. On March 1, 2003, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) transferred the functions of the former INS from the Department of Justice to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). USCIS, an entity within DHS, presently maintains many of the immigration forms that USCIS and ICE inherited from the former INS. USCIS is currently rebranding these forms, including the I-9, to reflect the transfer to DHS. Aside from replacing outdated references to the Department of Justice and the former INS with references to DHS and its components, the current edition of Form I-9 is the same as the 11/21/91 edition. The edition date on the refranded Form I-9 reads "(Rev. 05/31/05)Y." Employers may meet their employment verification requirements under the law by completing a Form I-9 that has an edition date of either "(Rev. 5/31/05)Y," "(Rev. 05/31/05)N," or "(Rev. 11/21/91)N" in the lower right corner of the form. DHS is currently in the process of making substantive changes to the Form I-9 in connection with previous rulemakings and plans to introduce a new Form I-9 at the end of this process. More information about the employment verification process and other employer-based immigration topics is available from USCIS' Office of Business Liaison at http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/employerinfo/eibulletin.htm . On March 1, 2003, U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services became one of three legacy INS components to join the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with fundamentally transforming and improving the delivery of immigration and citizenship services, while enhancing the integrity of our nation's security.