DHS Extends Date to Physically Check Documents to August 30

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that employers will have 30 days (until August 30) to come into compliance with Form I-9 requirements after the COVID-19 flexibilities sunset on July 31 [ICE, ICE Updates Form I-9 Requirement Flexibility to Grant Employers More Time to Comply With Requirements, 5-4-23].

DHS encourages employers that have been using temporary flexibilities to plan ahead to ensure that all required physical inspection of identity and employment eligibility documents for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, is completed by August 30. Employers are required to complete a physical document examination for all individuals hired on or after March 20, 2020, who only have had a virtual or remote document examination.

What to Do on Form I-9

Employers that examined these employees’ documents remotely should have entered “COVID-19” in the section 2 Additional Information field on Form I-9 as the reason for the physical examination delay.

Within three business days after the earlier date of the employee working in a non-remote setting or by August 30 at the latest, an employer must obtain, inspect, and retain copies of the employees’ documents and add “documents physically examined” along with the examination date to the section 2 Additional Information field or in section 3.

To learn more about federal and state laws, regulations, and information to keep your company's payroll operations in compliance, check out Payroll Source Plus!

Jyme Mariani, Esq., is Managing Editor of Payroll Currently and Senior Manager of Payroll Information Resources for PayrollOrg.