BACKGROUND 

Under normal circumstances, employers must obtain, physically inspect, and retain copies of the verification of identity and employment eligibility documentation within three days of a new hire's first day of work. However, on March 20, 2020, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that employers could postpone the physical examination of employees' documents and instead perform remote inspections, citing "COVID-19" as the reason for the physical inspection delay on Form I-9.

However, this remote verification policy will soon come to an end. By August 30, employers must physically inspect all verification of identity and employment eligibility documentation that were previously completed remotely.

NEXT STEPS FOR EMPLOYERS

Employers should develop plans to identify employees whose verification of identity and employment eligibility documents were inspected remotely, communicate with those employees, and prepare them to present their documents in person. Upon physically examining an employee's documents, the employer should indicate "documents physically examined" along with the date of examination in Section 2 or Section 3 of the corrected Form I-9, as appropriate.

For employees who are still working remotely, ICE has stated that an employer may use an authorized representative to perform the in-person, physical inspection of the verification of identity and employment eligibility documentation on their behalf. For example, an authorized representative may be a state-registered notary. You can contact BFG HR for more examples of authorized representatives. 

While ICE permits employers to fix minor technical or procedural violations, if those violations go uncorrected or are numerous, employers may be subject to civil fines, criminal penalties, debarment from government contracts, and specific court orders.

For other frequently asked questions, you can refer to this resource provided by ICE. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.