De Wit Immigration Law Releases a 2025 Form I-9 Compliance Guide for Employers – Guest Post

A Practical Resource for Employer Compliance

De Wit Immigration Law has released a 2025 Form I-9 Compliance Guide designed to help employers stay current with federal employment verification requirements. The guide addresses recent updates to the form, common mistakes that lead to penalties, and best practices for maintaining compliant records across a workforce of any size.

Form I-9 compliance is one of those obligations that every employer in the United States must meet, but many handle incorrectly. The form verifies that employees are legally authorized to work in the country. Errors in completing, storing, or retaining I-9 forms can lead to fines ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars per violation, and those penalties have increased in recent years.

Why a 2025 Update Matters

Immigration regulations are subject to frequent changes, and the Form I-9 is no exception. The current version of the form reflects updates that affect both the documents employers can accept and the procedures for remote verification that were introduced during the pandemic and later formalized.

De Wit Immigration Law, a business immigration attorney with deep expertise in employer compliance, developed the guide in response to the number of businesses that remain unaware of recent changes. Many employers are still using outdated forms or relying on procedures that were temporarily permitted but have since expired or been modified.

The guide covers the acceptable documents for verifying identity and work authorization, the timeline for completing the form after a new hire starts, rules for reverification when work authorization expires, and storage and retention requirements that apply to both paper and electronic records.

Common Mistakes That Lead to Penalties

According to De Wit Immigration Law, the most common I-9 errors fall into a few categories. Employers frequently fail to complete Section 2 within three business days of the employee’s start date. Others accept documents that are not on the approved list, or they request specific documents instead of allowing the employee to choose which acceptable documents to present.

Requesting specific documents can constitute a form of discrimination, even if the employer’s intention is to simplify the process. The anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act prohibit employers from treating workers differently based on citizenship status or national origin during the verification process.

Other frequent issues include failing to update the form when an employee’s work authorization is renewed, disposing of forms too early, and making corrections incorrectly when errors are discovered.

Who Should Use This Guide

The guide is aimed at human resources professionals, small business owners, and in-house counsel who manage employment verification. De Wit Immigration Law recommends that every employer conduct a self-audit of their existing I-9 records at least once a year to identify and correct errors before a government audit occurs.

The full 2025 Form I-9 Compliance Guide is available through De Wit Immigration Law’s website. Employers with questions about specific situations or who need help preparing for an audit are encouraged to reach out to the firm directly.

Author Bio:

De Wit Immigration Law is a business immigration firm that helps employers navigate complex immigration compliance requirements, including Form I-9 verification, visa processing, and workforce authorization.