Form I-9, officially known as Employment Eligibility Verification, is used for verifying the identity and employment eligibility of the individuals hired for work in the US. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mandates all US employers to complete and retain this form for each employee (citizens and noncitizens) they hire.
When Section 1 and Section 2 are completed no later than the first and third days of employment respectively, Section 3 is completed only under certain circumstances. Here’s everything you need to know about completing Section 3 of Form I-9.
Section 3 of Form I-9 applies to both reverification and rehires. An employer must be filling out Section 3 in either of these cases:
· When your employee’s employment authorization or documentation of employment authorization has expired.
· When your employee is rehired within 3 years of the date that Form I-9 was originally completed.
· When your employee has a legal name change.
When your employee’s employment authorization or, in most cases, employment authorization documentation expires, you must reverify to ensure your employee is still authorized to work.
Reverification in Section 3 must be completed before
· The expiration date, if any, of the employment authorization stated in Section 1 OR
· The expiration date, if any, of the List A or List C employment authorization document recorded in Section 2.
You should not reverify U.S. citizens and noncitizen nationals, or lawful permanent residents (including conditional residents)who presented a Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551). Some employees may have entered “N/A” in the expiration date field in Section 1 if they are aliens whose employment authorization does not expire, e.g. asylees, refugees, certain citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or Palau. Reverification does not apply for such employees unless they choose to present evidence of employment authorization in Section 2 that contains an expiration date and requires reverification, such as Form I-766, Employment Authorization Document.
For reverification, an employee must present an unexpired document(s) (or a receipt) from either List A or List C showing he/she is still authorized to work. Reverification does not apply to List B documents.
Always remember that only certain items require reverification:
· List A, Item 3, a foreign passport that contains a temporary I-551 stamp or temporaryI-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa.
· List A, Item 4, Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph (FormI-766).
· List A, Item 5, for a nonimmigrant alien authorized to work for a specific employer because of his or her status: foreign passport and Form I-94 or Form I-94A in the same name and containing an endorsement of the alien’s nonimmigrant visa status which has not yet expired and bears no conflict with the proposed employment.
· List C, Item 8, Employment Authorization Document issued by DHS.
Note: You cannot demand the employee to present a particular document from List A or List C. The employee is also not required to show the same type of document that he/she presented previously.
If you rehire an employee within three years from the date that the Form I-9 was previously executed, you may either complete Section 3 on the employee’s previously executed Form I-9 or complete the same in a new Form I-9. If the employee remains employment authorized as indicated on the previously executed Form I-9, the employee does not need to provide any additional documentation.
Provide in Section 3 the employee’s rehire date, any name changes if applicable, and sign and date the form. However, if the previously executed Form I-9 indicates that the employee’s employment authorization from Section 1 or employment authorization documentation from Section 2 has expired, then you have to reverify the employment authorization in addition to providing the rehire date.
Note: If the previously executed Form I-9 is not the current version of the form, you must complete Section 3 on the current version of the form.
· When completing Section 3 in either a reverification or rehire situation, if the employee’s name has changed, record the new name in Block A.
· Similarly, the date of rehire has to be mentioned in the Block B.
· Complete Block C if you are reverifying expiring or expired employment authorization or employment authorization documentation of a current or rehired employee.
· Enter the information from the List A or List C document(s) (or receipt) that the employee presented to reverify his or her employment authorization. All documents must be unexpired.
· Enter the title of the List A or C document (or receipt) the employee has presented to show continuing employment authorization in this field.
· Enter the document number, if any, of the document you entered in the Document Title field exactly as it appears on the document. Enter N/A if the document does not have a number.
· Enter the expiration date, if any, of the document you entered in the Document Title field in mm/dd/yyyy format. If the document does not contain an expiration date, enter N/A in this field.
· The person who completes Section 3 (Employer or Authorized Representative) must sign in the signature field. By signing Section 3, you attest under penalty of perjury (28 U.S.C. §1746) that you have examined the documents presented by the employee, that the document(s)reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee named, that to the best of your knowledge the employee is authorized to work in the United States, that the information you entered in Section 3 is complete, true and correct to the best of your knowledge, and that you are aware that you may face severe penalties provided by law and may be subject to criminal prosecution for knowingly and willfully making false statements or knowingly accepting false documentation when completing this form.
· The person who completes Section 3 must enter the date Section 3 was completed and signed in this field. One should not backdate this field. The person who completed, signed, and dated Section 3 must enter his/her name in this field.
Whenever in doubt, you should refer to the Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274)
If you already used Section 3 of the employee’s previously executed Form I-9, but are rehiring the employee within three years of the original execution of Form I-9, you may complete Section 3 on a new Form I-9 and attach it to the previously executed form.
* Use the newest version of Form I-9 whenever completing Section 3 for a current employee.
* Ensure that information employees provide on Form I-9 is used only for Form I-9 purposes.
* Completed Forms I-9 and all accompanying documents should be stored in a safe, secure location. Form I-9 may be generated, signed, and retained electronically, in compliance with the Department of Homeland Security regulations at 8 CFR274a.2.
* You are responsible to reverify documents prior to their expiration; you cannot rely on employees to track and reverify independently.
* An application to renew an Employment Authorization Card does not, in and of itself, confer employment authorization. Employees must present new documents verifying their continued eligibility to work.
* According to USCIS Instructions, Forms I-9 obtained from the USCIS website that are not printed and signed manually (by hand) are not considered complete. In the event of an inspection, retaining incomplete forms may make you subject to fines and penalties associated with incomplete forms.
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