The DHS-mandated Form I-9 was enacted in the late 1980s as part of an initiative to curb employers from hiring undocumented immigrants. The process remained largely unchanged for decades until COVID stay-at-home orders necessitated flexibility to the long-standing requirement that employers must physically inspect identity documents.

Positive feedback from employers and acknowledgement that hiring has fundamentally changed led the government to announce a permanent virtual I-9 process that was rolled out on August 1st, 2023.

Dubbed ‘alternative procedure’, this new allowance for Form I-9 enables a new era of hiring flexibility. However, employers should be aware of some of the limitations before implementing within their organization.  

Alternative procedure: the requirements

• E-Verify: To utilize alternative procedure, employers must abide by certain requirements, the most stringent being the use of E-Verify (a robust identity verification system that validates information from an employee’s I-9 form against data from the U.S. government).
• Secure Storage: Employers are also required to securely store copies of the employee’s identity and hiring documents. In this context, secure storage ensures that all sensitive documents related to the hiring process are kept in a digital environment, safeguarded against unauthorized access and potential breaches.
• Job Site Consistency: DHS has also specified that each job site must adhere to a consistent hiring method (i.e. if alternative procedure is offered for some, it must be available to all). The one exception to this is if you are offering alternative procedure/virtual review to remote employees only, and you use traditional physical review for all onsite employees.

How does it work?

Employers utilizing alternative procedure are required to follow the below steps:

1. Section 1 & Document Share: The employee completes I-9 Section 1, and securely transmits their corresponding identity and work authorization documents to the employer.
2. Virtual Meeting: An authorized representative of the employer conducts a live video meeting with the employee, views and verifies their documentation and signs Section 2.
3. E-Verify: The employer utilizes E-Verify to validate that the information provided matches government records.

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