USCIS recently announced that employers who were eagerly awaiting the release of the new I-9 Form will have to wait a little longer. http://www.uscis.gov/i-9 But hold on a moment. The current I-9 Form has an expiration date of 8/31/2012 printed in the upper right hand corner. So, what are employers supposed to do if a new form is not released by August 31, 2012? Indeed, employers could get into trouble if they use expired I-9 forms.
Per USCIS, even after the current form expires on August 31, 2012, employers should continue to use the current I-9 Form until USCIS instructs otherwise. USCIS instructions for the Form I-9 currently available on I-9 Central also indicate that the agency will accept the use of the prior version of the Form I-9 that bears a revision date of February 2, 2009. (The February 2, 2009 I-9 Form has an expiration date of June 30, 2009.)
Why the delay? As announced in March of 2012, USCIS is in the process of updating and publishing a newly revised two-page Form I-9. When the comment period of the revisions was opened to the public, USCIS received a large number of comments over 3,000. So, USCIS is taking a little longer than expected to absorb all these insightful comments.