• Create a clear employee roster
• Compare the roster to all existing I-9s
  • Delineate employees hired after March 20, 2020 whose documents were inspected remotely
  • Make an action plan to inspect employee’s original documents in-person before August 30
  • Correct unrelated errors/omissions on employees’ Form Ii-9s following USCIS guidelines
• Original documents are required (with rare exceptions for printed I-94s and other outliers) and must be presented in-person by the employee
• Update the Form I-9 in Section 2 or Section 3 (for re-verification) 
  • List the date of the physical inspection and annotate “documents physically examined” 
  • For further details and examples, see USCIS guidance, Form I-9 Examples Related to Temporary COVID-19 Policies.
• If remote employees work far from employer worksites, employers may use an authorized representative to review the documents in-person on behalf of the employer and update the Form I-9
• If the employer representative who remotely reviewed the original I-9 documents is not available to perform the in-person review of original documents, a different representative can:
  • Annotate the “Additional Information” box, on page 2 of the I-9, OR
  • Complete a new Form I-9 Section 2 and attach it to the prior remotely inspected Form I-9
• If the employee has since separated from employment, simply annotate in their Form I-9 “Additional Information” box, including the date of separation
• Remotely inspected documents that have since expired can still be reviewed in-person (i.e., US passport, green card, driver’s license or state ID) and new documents should not be requested
  • Employers must not rely on a now expired document that would have required re-verification to prove ongoing work authorization (i.e., EAD or I-94)
  • The employee will need to present a valid List A or List C work authorization document at the time of physical inspection
• An employee who was run through the E-Verify process when they were hired under the I-9 COVID-19 flexibilities provisions will still require the standard in-person inspection of original documents outlined above, but employers should not create a new E-Verify case nor update the employee’s existing E-Verify case relating to the physical inspection of their documents

Download Checklist here: Best Practices Checklist (abbreviated)