New Form I-9 uses “alien” instead of “noncitizen”
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a new Form I-9 that once again uses the word alien as one of the options for categorizing an employee’s citizenship or immigration status.
Published: April 7, 2025 | by Michael Cardman, Senior Legal Editor at Brightmine
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a new Form I-9 that once again uses the word alien as one of the options for categorizing an employee’s citizenship or immigration status.
In 2023, the Biden administration substituted noncitizen for alien in the Form I-9 and other official documents on the grounds that alien is a dehumanizing term.
Now, to align the Form I-9 with statutory language, USCIS has restored alien and made other minor changes like:
- Revising the descriptions of two List B documents in the Lists of Acceptable Documents
- Adding appropriate statutory language and a revised DHS Privacy Notice to the instructions
The new form is dated January 20, 2025, and is set to expire May 31, 2027.
Employers may continue to use:
- Form I-9 with an August 1, 2023, edition date until it expires on May 31, 2027
- Form I-9 with an August 1, 2023, edition date, until it expires on July 31, 2026
(The edition date can be found on the bottom left of the form and the instructions, and the expiration date can be found on the top right of the form and instructions.)
Employers using an electronic version of Form I-9 must update their systems with the latest version no later than July 31, 2026.
Additionally, starting April 3, 2025, E-Verify and E-Verify+ will have updated the Citizenship Status selection during case creation to reflect the new language. Depending on the form edition that is used, employees and employers may still continue to see the prior text as a noncitizen authorized to work rather than an alien authorized to work in some E-Verify cases.
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About the author
Michael Cardman
Senior Legal Editor, Brightmine
Michael Cardman has more than 20 years of experience in publishing and has specialized in employment law for more than 15 years. As a member of the Brightmine editorial team, he focuses on wage and hour compliance, including minimum wage, overtime, employee classification, hours worked, independent contractors and child labor.
Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining Brightmine, he was the managing editor for Thompson Publishing Group’s library of HR publications. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing books, manuals and online tools covering a variety of topics such as wage and hour, employee leaves, employee benefits and compensation.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.