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.
Resuming In-person Document Verification
Effective August 1, 2023, all Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verifications must be completed in person by either a department Tracker Processor or a designated Authorized Agent.
If you choose to use an Authorized Agent, you should continue to meet with them and the employee via teleconferencing software (e.g., Zoom) to resolve any issues and ensure the Authorized Agent inspects the correct documents.
What actions should I take?
Form I-9s completed remotely between March 20, 2020, and July 31, 2023, must satisfy the in-person document inspection requirement by August 30, 2023.
Prior to August 30, 2023:
1. Identify remotely onboarded employees by running a customized report in Tracker I-9. See our job aid for details.
2. If the employee still has active employment, complete in-person document inspection and update the employee’s Tracker record using one of the following methods:
- UCLA Department completes inspection: Instruct the employee to report to your Tracker Processor and present the original document(s) that were provided for the initial Form I-9 completion. Update the notes in the Section 2 Additional Information field to include the date of the in-person inspection and the initials of the person who inspected the document(s).
- Authorized Agent completes inspection: Designate an Authorized Agent to perform the in-person inspection of the original documents that were provided for the initial Form I-9 completion. Send a Section 2 Amendment to the Authorized Agent to reflect the date of the in-person document inspection and their initials.
- If the terminated employee is being rehired, it is the responsibility of the hiring department to complete the in-person document inspection.
- See our job aid for more detailed instructions.
3. If the employee has terminated from the University, update the notes in the Section 2 Additional Information field:
4. Confirm that a copy of the employee’s work authorization document(s) have been submitted using one of the two approved processes (i.e., document upload to Tracker using an Apple device or document upload via DocuSign) to ensure compliance with the DHS remote document inspection policy, even if the in-person document inspection has already been completed.
- Open the Tracker website on an iPad or iPhone. With this option you can capture an image of the documents and upload them to Tracker. Apple products allow the image of the document to be uploaded without maintaining a copy on the iPad, iPhone, or on iCloud. See our job aid for details.
- Submit a case to CRU for electronic upload of employee verification documents for Tracker I-9. Do not submit more than one request per employee or you will create duplicate records. For assistance with your case, please reply to the case email notification that is sent at the time of initiation. See our knowledge base article for details.
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Questions
Please open a case with us if you have any questions.
