As an early Christmas present to employers, on December 23, 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced another extension until January 31, 2021 of the policy allowing remote or virtual verification of the documentation required for a Form I-9 when a workforce is working remotely.
Originally, on March 19, 2020, due to COVID-19 precautions implemented by employers and employees, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would exercise prosecutorial discretion to defer the physical presence requirements associated with the Form I-9 under section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The original period was to expire on May 19, 2020. Since then, it has been extended on six occasions. It is unlikely that this is the last extension.
DHSโ temporary policy defers the requirements for employers to review Form I-9 documents in person with new employees where employers and workplaces are operating totally remotely due to COVID-19.
In these situations, employers may inspect the Section 2 documents remotely through a virtual connection (e.g., video link, fax, or email). Then, employers may enter โCOVID-19โ as the reason for the physical inspection delay in the Section 2 โAdditional Informationโ field. Additionally, the USCIS advises employers to write โRemote inspection completed on (date).โ The exact language to be used at this point seems to be a moving target as it has changed since the initial exception.
Once the National Emergency ends or normal operations resume, which has never been clearly defined by DHS, all employees, who were onboarded using remote verification, must report to their employer within three business days for in person physical verification of their identity and employment eligibility documentation.
In prior blog posts, I have discussed the inconsistent directions of ICE and the USCIS concerning what will happen when the employer representative who virtually inspected the documents is not available to conduct the physical, in-person inspection/verification. Employers and their legal counsel should read this post – https://discuss.ilw.com/blogs/bbuchanan/396459-ice-extends-i-9-virtual-verification-though-december-31-2020.
If you are concerned about your companyโs immigration compliance, I invite you to read The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, a book that I co-authored with Greg Siskind, available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0997083379.