Hiring new talent involves quite a bit of paperwork and due diligence. In your quest to hire someone and get started, we highly recommend having a solid onboarding process in place to ensure compliance. The Federal I-9 form is one of the forms that deserves extra attention.
The I-9 form is the Employment Eligibility Verification form that must be completed for all new hires in the United States for both citizens and non-citizens.
The updated I-9 form has now been released, and employers would be best served to familiarize themselves with its requirements as fines can be levied per occurrence of error or omission – not per form. Companies can also be fined based on a percentage of forms that are found to be out of compliance.
I-9 forms are updated on a regular basis, so it’s best practice to have a human resource partner to consult with for their expertise. With the new form, it is required that you use the updated version going forward for all new hires. If you have employees that have been employed by you for many years, an I-9 audit will turn up many versions of the forms from over the years. Continuous and updated education regarding I-9 compliance is necessary to avoiding potentially devastating fines against your business.
A comprehensive summary article can be found here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/307241
Instructions, FAQ’s, online help and the form itself can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9
Significant item to note: Although the I-9 form is provided in Spanish, the English form must be used. The only exception where the Spanish form may be used is Puerto Rico. Everywhere else the Spanish form is to be used for reference only.
