On March 16, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released a revised version of its longstanding fact sheet, “Form I-9 Inspection Under Immigration and Nationality Act § 274A.” The updated fact sheet expands the universe of errors that ICE now considers substantive Form I-9 violations — many of which employers and practitioners have treated as correctable technical mistakes for nearly three decades. The practical effect is a significant increase in potential fine exposure for employers of all sizes, and the changes call for prompt internal review and remediation
Although the changes have been in effect since March 2026, we are now in August 2026, and many Employers are still confused about the changes, which can impact liability.
Changes in the new error definition can be confusing unless employers are aware of how the changes impact them.
Session Highlights:
- Learn what the specific changes in Substantive errors are and what Employers can do to mitigate them
- Learn what the Technical errors that were protected are now switched to Substantive errors
- Learn how the fines and penalties have increased and how immediate the payments are
- Learn how the Temporary Protected Status impacts the I-9 form changes as well as workplace requirements
- Learn how to develop an internal I-9 form audit based on the new changes in error definitions
- Learn what the actual penalties are and the amount of fines that are incurred
- Learn how Employers can use several action steps to decrease liability
- Learn how training is a huge factor when including onboarding teams to learn the new changes
- Learn how conducting an internal I-9 audit now will reduce the potential of ICE audits if ICE audits I-9 forms
Why You Should Attend:
This new change significantly impacts Employers and employer-authorized representatives, especially if they are not aware of this huge change in process. For many decades, the Technical errors have provided an option for I-9 form errors, since, based on the Technical errors, there was time (10 days) to correct any Technical errors. Now, the new changes not only eliminated that protection but it increases the errors and the penalties with the new focus on Substantive errors.
The financial implications are significant. For more than 25 years, immigration compliance professionals have advised employers that technical errors do not require remediation in advance of an ICE audit because ICE affords employers an opportunity to correct such errors during the inspection process. That guidance no longer holds for the newly reclassified violations. Errors that previously could be corrected during an audit must now be remediated beforehand — or they will be treated as fineable offenses. For large employers maintaining hundreds or thousands of I-9 forms, the cumulative exposure can be substantial, particularly as annual penalty adjustments continue to be increased for inflation adjustments.
There are significant and rapidly evolving Temporary Protected Status (TPS) updates have occurred, driven primarily by a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling and subsequent federal court orders. These updates heavily impact employer I-9 compliance.
Who Should Attend:
- All Employers
- Business Owners
- Company Leadership
- Compliance professionals
- HR Professionals
- Onboarding Professionals
- Managers/Supervisors