Temporary Resident Cards and older versions of the Employment Authorization Card will no longer be accepted during the Form I-9 employee verification process, Homeland Security officials announced.
Designed to prevent fraudulent hiring, a new interim final rule submitted to the Federal Register earlier this week eliminates Forms I-688, I-688A and I-688B, which are expired and no longer issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, authorities said.
The shortened list of acceptable documents is necessary because expired IDs and work authorization cards "are prone to tampering and fraudulent use," the agency said.
If a document does not contain an expiration date, such as a Social Security card, it is considered unexpired and still acceptable.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, employers must complete an I-9 form for all newly hired employees to verify their identity and authorization to work in the United States. The list of approved documents that prospective employees can submit are divided into three categories: list A documents that verify identity and employment authorization; list B documents that verify only identity; and list C documents that verify only employment authorization.
The expired I-688 forms were taken off list A. Added to that list are foreign passports marked with a temporary I-551 stamp and machine-readable visas with a temporary I-551 printed notation.
The rule also adds to list A passports from the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (with a valid Form I-94 indicating non-immigrant admission) – part of a compact of free association reached between the United States and those countries.
Homeland Security officials said the rule is set to take effect 45 days after publication in the Federal Register, though a publication date hasn't yet been set.
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