Lots of people are wondering what’s up with the I-9 form. Here’s the latest …

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) requires employers to complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, for all newly hired employees to verify identity and authorization to work in the U.S.

Some vigilant employers have noticed that the I-9 plainly states that it “Expires 8/31/12″ in the upper right-hand corner of the form. Typically, government forms that have expired are null and void.

Current I-9 form is still valid

But not the I-9. In case you missed it, the USCIS announced that the form is still valid until further notice.

In other I-9 news, USCIS has published a new draft I-9 and is accepting public comments until September 21, 2012. The new I-9 is intended to be more “customer-friendly.” Among other things, proposed updates include a new layout for the form, new rules for employees who use a Form I-94 and new fields for the employee’s email address and phone number.

For everything you could ever possibly want to know about the I-9 process, here’s the official USCIS I-9 Central home page.

This was originally published on Manpower Group’s Employment Blawg.