On May 1, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a temporary policy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many areas are under stay-at-home orders and some online renewal services have restrictions and employees may experience challenges renewing a state driver’s license, a state ID card, or other Form I-9, List B document. Until further notice, employers may accept expired List B identity documents to complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Read the Temporary Policy.

Any Identity documents found in List B set to expire on or after March 1, 2020, and not otherwise extended by the issuing authority, may be treated the same as if the employee presented a valid receipt for an acceptable document for Form I-9 purposes.

How are expired List B documents noted on the I9 Form?

When your employee provides an acceptable expired List B document that has not been extended by the issuing authority you should:

• Record the document information in Section 2 under List B, as applicable; and,
• Enter the word “COVID-19” in the Additional Information Field; and
• Within 90 days after the termination of this temporary policy, the employee will be required to present a valid unexpired document to replace the expired document presented when they were initially hired.
• When the employee later presents an unexpired document, you should record the document number and other required information in Section 2 of the Additional Information field, the initial and date the change.

How to handle the I9 Form if the Issuing Authority extends the acceptance of expired documents?

• Enter the document’s actual expiration date in Section 2;
• Enter “COVID-19 EXT” in the Additional Information Field; and
• (optional) Attach a copy of a webpage or other notice indicating that the issuing authority has extended the documents.  In Florida, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) issued an emergency order to extend the expiration of drivers’ licenses for various time periods.  Click here to review.

How do we handle E-Verify checks for accepted expired List B documents?

E-Verify participating employers should use the employee’s expired List B document number from Section 2 of the Form I-9 to create an E-Verify case as usual within three days of the date of hire.