Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that COVID-19 temporary flexibilities for Form I-9 will end July 31, 2023. Employers must complete in-person document inspections for employees whose documents were inspected remotely during the flexibilities by August 30, 2023.
These flexibilities were announced in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the flexibilities, employers with employees engaging in distancing due to health reasons in connection to the pandemic could defer physical examination of employees’ identity and authorization documents. Employers examined the documents remotely over video, fax, or email noting COVID-19 as the reason for the physical exam delay.
In the past year, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a rule allowing remote examining procedures at all times. The DHS anticipates that the rule will be in place later this year. Once in place, employers will be able to use video, email, fax, or other remote methods to examine documents without a physical examination.
