Form I-9 Related News

On June 8, 2023, USCIS announced that certain additional Afghan parolees are employment authorized incident to parole. This updated guidance applies to certain Afghan parolees whose unexpired Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, contains a class of admission of "PAR" and indicates Afghanistan as the country of citizenship on the document, if their parole has not been terminated.   This additional category is added to the list of Afghan and Ukrainian parolees that were previously announced on November 21, 2022, as employment authorized incident to parole. With the addition of this additional category, the following Afghan and Ukrainian parolees are employment authorized incident to their parole:

COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, will end on July 31, 2023. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that employers must complete in-person physical document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely during the temporary flexibilities by August 30, 2023. 

On Jan. 26, 2023, President Biden issued a memorandum directing the secretary of homeland security to extend and expand Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for certain Hong Kong residents, and to provide for continued employment authorization, through Feb. 5, 2025. Accordingly, DHS published a Federal Register notice extending and expanding DED and employment authorization for certain Hong Kong residents through Feb. 5, 2025, and automatically extending through Feb. 5, 2025, the validity of DED-related Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) with an A-11 category code and an expiration date of Feb. 5, 2023. Completing Form I-9

On June 24, 2023, USCIS will dispose of E‑Verify records that are more than 10 years old, which are those last updated on or before Dec. 31, 2012. E‑Verify employers have until June 23, 2023, to download case information from the Historic Records Report if they want to retain information about these E-Verify cases.

USCIS issued new or corrected I-797, Notice of Action, receipt notices to certain individuals who did not initially receive information about the up to 540-day Employment Authorization Document (EAD) auto-extension period. 

USCIS field offices recently started delivering Forms I-94 with ADIT (temporary I-551) stamps as temporary evidence of LPR status without requiring an in-person appearance at the field office. With this new operational process, USCIS has added more ways for applicants to obtain proof of status. This alternate Form I-94 with an ADIT stamp is an acceptable List A receipt for Form I-9 and E-Verify.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended and redesignated Somalia for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) through Sept. 17, 2024.  Current beneficiaries who want to maintain their status must re-register between March 13, 2023, through May 9, 2023. Somali nationals and individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Somalia may submit an initial registration application under the redesignation of Somalia for TPS and apply for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).

Nov. 21, 2022, USCIS announced that Ukrainian and Afghan parolees with certain classes of admission are employment authorized incident to their parole.