Published on June 29, 2023

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that employers will have 30 days to ensure compliance with Form I-9 requirements after the COVID-19 flexibilities sunset on July 31, 2023.

Employers who have relied on the temporary flexibilities will have to ensure that all required physical inspection of identity and employment eligibility documents is completed by August 30, 2023. Employers may utilize authorized representatives to complete the physical examination of documents for the I-9 verification process.

Once the employees’ documents are physically examined, employers should add “documents physically examined” with the date of examination to the Additional Information field in Section 2 on the Form I-9, or in Section 3, as appropriate.

The immigration attorneys at Ryan Swanson are available to assist and advise employers regarding the I-9 verification and physical inspection process to ensure compliance with I-9 regulations.