Production Crew I-9s: What To Do about Expired IDs Due to COVID-19

Due to the stay-at-home orders issued during the COVID-19 pandemic, some productions are having trouble onboarding their production crew members – even remotely – if the crew member has an expired ID and no way to renew it.

Crew I-9 Documentation IDs that May Be Expired Due to Pandemic

Because many DMV offices and the like are shut down due to pandemic stay-at-home orders, crew members may experience challenges renewing a state driver’s license, a state ID card, or other List B identity document for the I-9. Thankfully, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a temporary policy regarding expired List B identity documents used to complete the I-9 for your production crew.

As of May 1, any I-9 List B identity documents set to expire on or after March 1, 2020, and not otherwise extended by the issuing authority, can be treated as if the employee presented a valid receipt for the renewal of the document.

DHS Guidelines for Temporarily Accepting an Expired ID from Production Crew

When your crewmember provides an acceptable (but expired) List B document that has not been extended by the issuing authority, simply:

• Record the document information in Section 2 under List B, as applicable; and,

• Use TiM's Add Text tool available during the crew I-9 verification step, and write in "COVID-19" as Additional Information.

Within 90 days after DHS’s termination of this temporary policy, the production crewmember will be required to present a valid, unexpired document to replace the expired document they presented during initial crew onboarding.

When the crewmember later presents an unexpired ID to replace the pandemicky expired one, you'll want to grab a PDF of the I-9 on file, and in the Section 2 Additional Information field:

• Record the number and other required document information from the actual document presented;
• Initial and date the change.

Note: The DHS prefers the production crewmember present the replacement of the same ID document that was expired – but we're more interested in requirements than preferences! Fact is, the crewmember can present any List A or List B document(s) and record the new document information in the Additional Information Field.

Procedure for Crew's List B Documents extended by an Issuing Authority

If your production crewmember's List B identity document expired on or after March 1, but the issuing authority has extended the document expiration date due to COVID-19, the document is acceptable as a List B document for the crewmember's I-9 during the extension timeframe specified by the issuing authority.

When your crewmember provides an acceptable expired List B document that has been extended by the issuing authority, simply:

• Enter the document’s expiration date in Section 2; and,
• Use TiM's Add Text tool available during the crew I-9 verification step, and write in "COVID-19 EXT" as Additional Information.

Production can also attach a copy of a webpage or other notice indicating that the issuing authority has extended the documents en masse.

You can confirm whether your production state has auto-extended the expiration date of state IDs and driver’s licenses by checking the state Motor Vehicle Administration or Department of Motor Vehicles’ website.

For extended ID documents, the crewmember does not have to present an unexpired List B document later for the I-9.

This is what makes officially extended expiration dates so much better (for both the crew and production) than plain old expired documents.

When you get a List B document such as a driver's license that's been extended by the issuing authority, it's considered valid and unexpired for purposes of your production crewmember's I-9. No need to come back later and reverify.

Maybe a small thing, but for today we'll take the win.

Learn more about I-9s for film and TV production crews. The USCIS has also provided examples of I-9 workarounds during the pandemic here.

Need a digital onboarding solution for your production crew? Try TiM today.