Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that it is extending flexible measures regarding Form I-9 employment eligibility verification. The measures were set to expire yesterday.

Key points:

  • The temporary measures have been extended another 30 days and are now scheduled to expire Aug. 19.
  • The guidelines allow employers who are operating 100% remotely to conduct remote verification of employee documents, e.g., using fax, email or video link, for the purpose of Form I-9 employment eligibility verification procedures.
  • Employers that follow the remote verification procedures must comply with strict guidelines when “normal operations resume,” including physical inspection of the documents that were viewed remotely within three business days.
  • The initial guidance granted an automatic extension of 60 days to employers who were served notices of inspection (NOIs) in March but had not yet responded. Today’s announcement confirms that after July 19 no additional extensions will be granted to employers who were served NOIs during the month of March 2020.
  • The original guidance including eligibility requirements can be found here.

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

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