On January 30, 2009, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced a 60-day implementation delay, until April 3, 2009, of the interim final rule entitled "Documents Acceptable for Employment Eligibility Verification" published in the Federal Register on December 17, 2008.  As drafted, the interim rule strictly defines what are acceptable identity and employment authorization documents for employers to use in completing the requisite I-9 employment eligibility verification process.  The implementation delay allows USCIS and DHS to further consider the rule’s wide–ranging practical impact on both employers and employees.

Similarly, implementation of the final rule requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to begin using USCIS’ E-Verify system has been similarly delayed, and federal contracting officers will not begin to insert the new E-Verify clause into federal contracts and solicitations until the interim rule above is first implemented, and not earlier than May 21, 2009.

For now, the current I-9 form and accompanying document list (Rev. 06/05/07) remains in effect until at least April 3, 2009.