Reminder: Temporary I-9 policy on expired List B identity documents to end May 1

A temporary policy allowing employers to accept expired List B identity documents during Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification will come to an end May 1.

Key Points:

• Beginning May 1, 2022, employers will only be permitted to accept List B documents that are not expired.
• Employers can continue to accept expired List B documents from now through April 30, 2022.
• Employers are required to update their I-9 forms by July 31, 2022, for any employees who presented an expired List B document between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022.
• If still employed, employees who were verified under the temporary policy must provide an unexpired document that establishes identity. Employees may present the renewed List B document, a different List B document or a document from List A.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provides specific instructions for updating and annotating the Form I-9 on its website. Information about acceptable I-9 documents can be found here on the USCIS website.

Additional Information: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adopted the temporary policy in May 2020 in response to the challenges people were facing getting List B documents renewed during the COVID-19 pandemic. DHS announced in March that the policy would end May 1. For more information on the updated requirements, please see the table on this USCIS website.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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