USCIS Revises Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
Date: 12/15/2008

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) submitted to the Federal Register an interim final rule to revise Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The rule narrows the list of acceptable identity and employment authorization documents, requires employers to accept only unexpired documents, and makes several technical changes. The rule and the revised Form I-9 will be published in the Federal Register soon and will take effect 45 days after publication.
All employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee hired after November 6, 1986 to show that the employee is authorized to work in the United States. Employers will be required to use the revised Form I-9 for all new hires and to reverify any employee with expiring employment authorization beginning 45 days after USCIS' interim final rule is published in the Federal Register.

Three Documents Removed from List A
USCIS has removed three documents from List A that can no longer be used to establish both identity and employment authorization because these documents are now obsolete:
Form I-688 Employment Authorization Document;
Form I-688A Employment Authorization Document; and
Form I-688B Employment Authorization Document.
Three Documents Added to List A

Three documents have been added to List A to establish both identity and employment authorization:
A temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa in addition to the foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp;
A passport from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) or the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) with a valid Form I-94 or Form I-94A indicating nonimmigrant admission under the Compact of Free Association Between the United States and the FSM or RMI; and
U.S. passport card.
Unexpired Documents Must Be Presented During the Verification Process
Expired documents are not acceptable documents for the revised Form I-9, including U.S. passports and all List B documents used to establish identity.
Revisions to the Employee Attestation Section
In Section 1 of the revised Form I-9, "citizen of the United States" and "noncitizen national of the United States" will now be two separate categories. Noncitizen nationals are persons born in American Samoa, certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and certain children of noncitizen nationals born abroad.
Availability of the Revised Form I-9
Beginning 45 days after publication in the Federal Register, the revised Form I-9 can be downloaded from our website or fromhttp://www.uscis.gov/. USCIS will also update The Handbook for Employers, Instructions for Completing the Form I-9 (M-274) to reflect the revisions to Form I-9.



***update****
NEW I-9 FORM! April 3, not Feb 2

Effective January 29, 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an announcement, late in the day, that the required use of the new I-9 form, dated February 2, 2009, will be delayed until April 3, 2009. Until then, use the current form with the June 5, 2007 revision date. The I-9 form is a required part of the hiring process for employers to verify that every new hire is either a U.S. citizen or authorized to work in the United States. Employers make this verification by examining documents noted on the I-9 form that establish identity and employment eligibility.

All My Best,

Judy L. Mina
"Protecting Employers through Effective HR Solutions"
Cell: 714-393-9270
Fax: 714-242-1870
mailto:judy@hrnow.us
http://www.hrnow.us

The greatest compliment I can receive is your referral. Please let other business owners know about me!
**if you would prefer to be removed from distribution, please let me know**

In case this news impacts you. -Judy


If you drive a car, truck or van for work, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced news that impacts you. That's because the IRS has released the new standard mileage rates for 2009. The rates will be used to calculate deductible costs for driving an automobile for business, charitable, medical and moving purposes. The new mileage rates for business, medical and moving purposes will be slightly lower than the rates for the second half of 2008, which were raised in the middle of last year due to spiking gas prices. The rate for charitable driving, however, is set by law and will remain unchanged from 2008.

Beginning January 1, 2009, the standard mileage rates for 2009 are as follows:
· Businesses = 55 cents per mile driven
· Medical or moving = 24 cents per mile driven
· Charitable organizations = 14 cents per mile driven
Overall, these rates reflect the higher transportation costs compared to a year ago. However, the rates are slightly lower than the second half of 2008 to factor in the recent drop in gasoline prices. While gasoline is a significant factor in the mileage rate, other fixed and variable costs, such as depreciation, also enter the calculation.

But before you calculate your deduction, make sure you qualify. The IRS reminds taxpayers that they cannot use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) or after claiming a Section 179 deduction for that vehicle. In addition, the business standard mileage rate cannot be used for any vehicle used for hire or for more than four vehicles used simultaneously.

Remember, for business purposes you don't have to use the standard rate! Although the IRS provides the standard mileage rate for ease and convenience, you're not required to use it. If you choose, you have the option of calculating the actual costs of using your vehicle instead of using the standard mileage rates. So keep that in mind as you calculate your automobile usage for business, medical, moving, or charity driving in 2009!

All My Best,

Judy L. Mina
"Protecting Employers through Effective HR Solutions"
Cell: 714-393-9270
Fax: 714-242-1870
mailto:judy@hrnow.us
www.hrnow.us

The greatest compliment I can receive is your referral. Please let other business owners know about me!