USCIS announced on August 20, 2020, that due to delays in the production of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), starting immediately and continuing through December 1, 2020, certain employees may present a Form I-797 Notice of Action approving an Application for Employment Authorization (Form I-765) as a List C #7 document issued by the Department of Homeland Security to establish employment authorization (and for current employees, to re-verify employment authorization) for Form I-9 compliance.
In order to serve as a valid List C document for Form I-9 purposes during this period, the Form I-797 Notice of Action must be dated on or after 12/1/19 through 8/20/20.
This announcement does not allow the I-797 Notice to be used as evidence of identity (List B), nor to serve as a List A document for establishing both identity and employment authorization, for I-9 purposes. Accordingly, an employee who presents an I-797 Notice of Action for evidence of employment authorization must also present an acceptable List B document to establish identity.
Importantly, employers must re-verify employees who present the Form I-797 as their List C document to establish (or re-verify) authorization during this period, using a document from either List A or List C, by December 1, 2020.
In addition, on August 18, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced an additional extension of the flexibility in complying with requirements related to Form I-9 due to COVID-19.
This temporary guidance was set to expire August 18. Because of ongoing precautions related to COVID-19, DHS has extended this policy for an additional 30 days.
This provision only applies to employers and workplaces that are operating remotely. See the original news release for more information on how to obtain, remotely inspect, and retain copies of the identity and employment eligibility documents to complete Section 2 of Form I-9.
Employers must monitor the DHS and ICE websites for additional updates about when the extensions end and normal operations resume.
E-Verify participants who meet the criteria and choose the remote inspection option should continue to follow current guidance and create cases for their new hires within three business days from the date of hire. Please see USCIS’s COVID-19 webpage for more information.