Failure to register with selective service- 3 year wait or 5 year wait

[brit01]

Hi folks,

Quick question for you. According to many of the threads in this forum, at age 31, failure to sign-up for selective services becomes a non-issue for citizenship purposes. However, I recently heard that it become a non-issue at age 29 if the naturalization petition is based on marriage to a US citizen. Is that true?

Once again, thanks for the outstanding information on this forum.

 

[NewlyMinted]

Were you in the United States before your 26th birthday under any immigrant status (legal or illegal)? If you were here under a non-immigrant status, then you shouldn't have a problem. Checkout the links below.

http://www.sss.gov/FSwho.htm

http://www.sss.gov/MUST.HTM

 

[boatbod]

The adjudicator's handbook only calls out selective service rules based upon a 5 year good moral behavior period, thus I believe age 31 is always the breakpoint where non-registration becomes less of a problem.

 

[ApplyinMidwest]

i'm over 31. when i was interviewed, first thing the officer ask was my selective service proof. so it matters.

 

[boatbod]

Yes, well you might note I said "less of a problem", rather than "no problem". Even if you are over 31 and failed to register when you should have, you still have to provide a status information letter. For the most part IO's don't seem to care once you are old enough to be past the 5yr window, but I guess every now and again you come across one having a bad day, who decides to get picky with you.

(D) Applicant Older than 31 . If the applicant files after his 31 st birthday, more than five years will have elapsed since his failure to register. Therefore, the failure to register will have occurred outside the period during which the applicant must show that he is of good moral character. This means that even if the applicant willfully and knowingly failed to register with the Selective Service, this fact would not, in and of itself, be a bar to eligibility so long as the applicant has currently satisfied the good moral character requirements of section 316(a)(3) of the Act. However, if the failure to register was willful and knowing, you can consider this fact with other evidence concerning the applicant’s compliance with section 316(a)(3). The applicant should provide the status information letter discussed in the memorandum located in Appendix 74-7.​

Full text of the USCIS rules regarding selective service can be found in the adjudicator's handbook section 74.2(g).