Expired List B Documents for Form I-9 Unacceptable Employment Verification

Effective May 1, 2022, employers can no longer accept expired List B documents for Form I-9 employment eligibility verification purposes, and any expired List B documents that have been previously accepted must be updated by July 31, 2022.

Allowing employees to present these expired documents was a temporary policy instituted by the Department of Homeland Security in May 2020 to address the fact that various issuing authorities were unable to renew documents in a timely manner due to the pandemic. of COVID-19. Now that the issuing authorities are resuming more normal activities, this temporary policy is coming to an end.

If an employee submitted an expired List B document between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2022, the Form I-9 must be updated by July 31, 2022.

Here are the requirements:

If the employee who presented an expired List B document is still employed, the employee must provide an unexpired document that establishes their identity. It may be a renewed version of the expired List B document that was previously submitted, another unexpired List B document, or an unexpired List A document that establishes both identity and work permit.

Upon submission, the employer must enter the following information about the new document in the Additional Information field in Section 2 of Form I-9: title, number, issuing authority, and expiration date. The employer must then initial and date this section of the form.

If the employee is no longer employed by the company, no action is necessary.

DHS noted that, if the List B document that was originally submitted was automatically renewed by the issuing authority upon submission, no action is required because the document was not considered expired.

As of this writing, eligible employers can still view Form I-9 documents virtually, via video link, fax, or email. This flexibility continues until an employee begins non-remote employment on a regular, consistent, or predictable basis, or until the policy is terminated. This flexibility continued through April 30, 2022. Many have called on DHS to continue this policy indefinitely as remote work continues to play an important role in the workplace, even as businesses resume more normal operations. Whether the end of the expired List B document policy indicates that DHS will also end I-9 flexibility remains to be seen.