485, AP issues related to special registration

Z

zana

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

My husband and I are both citizens and natives (passort holders) of India but my husband was born in a country that falls in the registration list. He has not special registered as of now. I have applied and got I-140 approval for both of us under NIW (self sponsorship category). We applied for our I-485 and travel parole in October 2002 and I received my travel parole approval in March 2003. However my lawyer now informs us that INS is still reveiwing my husbands application to see if he requires special registration.

Our lawyer says that he does not need to register as of now and that we just have to wait for INS to decide what they want to do.

Does anyone have any experience with this situation? Will he have to special register? How does this affect chances of getting the EAD (we are just now applying for that) or even the 485 approval, in the same time frame as me?

Any advice is welcome!
 
If your husband was a citizen of bangladesh/Pakistan/ or any other country that require special registration, he must go for special registration. Registration is very simple, they don't ask many questions, just check some papers and enter data in the computer. But if he does not register, he might be in trouble if I-485 is transferred to the local INS for interview.
 
Well he has always been a citizen of India (which is not on the reigstration list) but was born in the Middle East (which is). We did not think that was a requirement to register.
 
A lot of South Indians (especially Malayalis) are born in the middle-east. I personally do not think this would be a problem.

Maybe INS must be looking to see if such individuals have any loyalty to their country of birth. Unlike US/UK, no middle-eastern country give automatic citizenship by birth.

If an foreign-born individual has always been an indian citizen, I doubt if registration is required.
 
I don't think that if one is born in middle east (unless they belong to the sheik's family/relative, and one of the parents is a middle eastern citizen) they are not eligible for that country's (middle east) citizenship unlike other countries like USA/UK/Canada. So there's nothing to worry about. IMHO your husband does not have to go for the registration. You attorney should explain this to the INS.
 
Originally posted by vault
So there's nothing to worry about. IMHO your husband does not have to go for the registration. You attorney should explain this to the INS.
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And if you're wrong, he's subject to deportation and a permanent re-entry bar. The regulations are clear - ALL "citizens and nationals" of the countries in question need to register. If you were born there, you are considered a national under US immigration law, which is the only law that counts in this situation.

Get the husband to go and register. If BCIE/BCIS refuse to register him, get that in writing, and all will be good. In most cases, it should be fairly simple. The reprecussions of not registering are extremely severe.
 
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