Employers Have Four Days to Complete I-9s and Initiate E-Verify Queries

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that employers have a total of four business days to complete the Form I-9 for new hires. For those employers who use E-Verify, the same deadline applies. While the announcement was phrased as a clarification of existing policy, it represents a surprising new interpretation of a long-standing rule.

Section 1 of the Form I-9 must still be completed and signed by the employee on or before the first day of work. Under the new guidance, the employer has until the third business day after the date the employee started work to review original documentation evidencing the employee’s identity and employment authorization and to sign Section 2 of the form. This comes as news to many employers and to immigration experts; the deadline was previously understood to be the third business day of work.

USCIS explained the “Thursday rule” as follows: “If the employee starts work for pay on Monday, the third business day after the employee started work for pay is Thursday (assuming all days were business days for the employer). The first day the employee starts work for pay is not included in the three business day calculation.”

Employers need not rush to change existing immigration or I-9 policies, as consistently-applied polices more stringent than the government’s “Thursday rule” are generally acceptable. For policy guidance or for other questions relating to the Form I-9 or E-Verify, please contact the Seyfarth attorney with whom you work, or any Business Immigration attorney on our website. We stand ready to assist you.