Information about US immigration law - US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced earlier this year that it has notified about 1,000 companies throughout the country that it will be auditing them to ensure they are not employing undocumented workers....

1. What Employers Need to Know about I-
9’s
ICE penalties from worksite enforcement
inspections increased to $5,300,000 in FY 2010,
up from $1,033,291 in FY 2009, with average
fines exceeding $110,000
ICE criminally charged a record-breaking 180
owners, employers, managers and/or
supervisors in FY 2010, up from 135 in FY 2008
and 114 in FY 2009.
ICE conducted more than 2,200 I-9 audits in FY
2010, up from more than 1,400 in FY 2009.
ICE debarred 97 business and 49 individuals in
FY 2010, up from 30 and 53, respectively, in FY
2009.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
announced earlier this year that it has notified about
1,000 companies throughout the country that it will
be auditing them to ensure they are not employing
undocumented workers. The audits include
employers in every industry across all 50 states.

2. Hiring an unauthorized worker can result in fines
up to $5,500.
Improperly filed I-9 forms that are missing
information can lead to fines up to $1,100 (even
if the employee in question is legally authorized
to work in the United States).
Knowingly committing or participating in
document fraud can lead to fines up to $3,200
per document for the first offense and up to
$6,500 per document for subsequent offenses.
On July 22, 2010, the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) published a final rule amending the
June 2006 interim regulations relating to I-9 forms.
The final rule clarifies that the employer has 3 days
from the first day of work for pay but not including
the actual date of hire to complete Section 2 of the
Form I-9; or, Thursday if the employee begins work
on Monday. Most employers need not count
weekends or federal holidays when determining its
Form I-9 completion deadlines. Retailers and other
similarly situated employers may still be held
responsible for weekends and holidays if those days

3. are ordinarily “days on which the employer conducts
business” pursuant to 1997 INS guidance.
USCIS now requires additional information to be
recorded such as the DS-2019 and I-20 numbers.
Employers with F, J & M employees clearly have
additional work to do and more training to provide
to HR staff.
For an H-1B employee’s Form I-94/I-94A issued for
employment with a previous employer, the employer
should retain the following documents with the
employee’s existing Form I-9 to prove filing for an
extension of stay on the employee’s behalf:
A copy of the new Form I-129
Proof of payment for filing a new Form I-129;
and
Evidence that you mailed the new Form I-129 to
USCIS
Further, employers are not required to update Form
I-9 when an employee changes his or her name, but
they may nevertheless do so in Section 3. Employers
may accept a document with a different name than
what was entered in Section 1 (e.g., due to married

4. name, compound name, or misspelling) as long as
the employer is satisfied that the document(s)
reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the
employee.
When the employment is time limited, as in the case
of aliens authorized to work for a specific period of
time, the date of expiration must be noted and the
I-9 revisited prior to that time so that it can be
updated and the individual’s status re-verified in
Section 3. Failure to do so can be financially costly
to the employer who is audited by ICE and found to
have unauthorized individuals on payroll.
The final rule clarifies the audit trail requirements
such that an electronic Form I-9 system need not
show every time a Form I-9 is viewed or accessed,
but it must track any:
Creation,
Completion,
Alteration,
Update, or
Other modification

5. of a Form I-9 by recording:
Date of access,
Identity of the individual taking the action, and
Particular action taken.
If an electronic Form I-9 storage method is utilized,
it must contain an indexing system that is
comparable to a reasonable hardcopy filing system.
Lastly, DHS addressed the requirement that
electronic Form I-9 systems be capable of printing a
transaction record that must be given to the
employee at the time of Form I-9 completion. DHS
did modify the regulation in part, however, by only
requiring that a receipt be provided when an
employee requests it. The receipt only needs to be
issued within a reasonable time, and it may be
transmitted via e-mail rather than printed.

6. In Summary
It is obviously a wise choice to pay meticulous
attention to any new rules put forth by the DHS.
Noncompliance can clearly result in a heavy financial
burden—and no employer wants to face possible
criminal prosecution. It is always in an employer’s
best interest to diligently follow the DHS rules for I-9
compliance and to be fully informed about new
updates and amendments to existing regulations.
Disclaimer: This article is not meant as specific
advice regarding a person’s individual case. An
attorney should be consulted. This article does not
create an Attorney-Client relationship. Any tax
information or written tax advice contained herein
(including any attachments) is not intended to be
and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose
of avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed on
the taxpayer. (The foregoing legend has been
affixed pursuant to U.S. Treasury Regulations
governing tax practice.)