On April 6, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) disclosed on its “what’s new” feed that an early version of the new Form I-9 contained an internal technical error. Then on April 17, the agency alerted the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) that some HR professionals are inadvertently using that bad form. Apparently, the form available for download from the USCIS website between November 14 and 17, 2016, altered the order of social security numbers entered in Section 1 when the form was printed. The glitch was quietly fixed—and a new form uploaded on November 17—but several incorrect social security numbers are still being discovered.
Tips for Employers
Did You Download the I-9 Form Sometime in November?
If you downloaded and saved the fillable I-9 form sometime in November, go back and confirm that the social security numbers in Section 1 match the social security card provided. Better yet, go to the USCIS website and re-download and save the form to ensure that it is glitch-free. If you happen to find an incorrect social security number, simply draw a line through the number, enter the correct number, and put a brief explanation next to it, along with your signature and date. Unfortunately, there’s no way to verify that you have the glitch-free form by looking at the revision date on the I-9 form; either way, it will have “11/14/2016 N” in the lower left corner.
If you’re unsure whether you’re using the correct I-9 form or have other questions regarding the documents required for employment eligibility verification, reach out to your Vigilant employment law attorney. For additional insight, view all blog topics related to hiring.
