Interview Letter and Selective Service question

E

eccevino

Registered Users (C)
Hi everybody,

Just got my Interview Letter in the mail yesterday (yea)! However, I have a question regarding selective service. My letter states I should bring "any evidence of Selective Service registration". Well, I am wondering why! As far as I know, I don't think I was required to register for Selective Service. Here is my immigration history:

1. Came to the US on a J-1 visa in 1983 for a foreign exchange student program (I was 16). Left 6 months later, right after turning 17.
2. Came to the US a few times between 1995 and 1997 on a B-1/B-2 visa. I was 29-31 years old.
3. Moved to the US in 1998 with an H1-B visa. I was 32.
4. Applied for a GC and became a permanent resident in 2002 (I was 36).

Based on what I know, you should only register for selective service if you live in the US as a PERMANENT RESIDENT or ILLEGAL ALIEN and your age is anywhere between 18 and 26 years old. Is this correct? If so, why would they ask me to take evidence of Selective Service registration? Or is this standard on all interview letters?

Any comments, opinions? Thanks in advance!
 
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The letter is not needed if you were ineligible but some people do get a letter saying so from the SS office.
The IV letter is a standard form and it has a ton of data. Only that which is applicable to you should be relevant to your case. If asked by the IO you can just say you were not a PR at that age!
 
I agree. I was not required to register for selective service and the IO didn't ask for any status letter or anything to prove this. I didn't bother asking for a status letter.
 
The IO will just bypass this question since you were not required. You don't even need to contact SS at all...
 
Thanks to all of you for your responses! I guess I will just relax about this one, and if asked I will just tell the IO I believe SS is not applicable to me since I didn't reside in the US between 18 and 26 years of age.
 
eccevino,
You can contact SS for the letter.
Any reason you dont want to contact and get the letter just to keep it with you? Yes u need to put in some time to contact them, but it should be straightforward in ur case.
 
Crosshairs, do you mean I need to take a letter anyway? Even if I know it would not be applicable to me?
 
I personally think it is a waste of time to get that letter. Why should we increase the burden of proof for something that is not even applicable to us?

The point is the IV letter has a lot of junk. People zoom in on the tax papers and waste time and money getting past 7 tax returns. That part is specifically for people with continuous residency issue. They ignore the part where it suggests to bring extra photos!
Also useful to take is the SS card which is not mentioned in the letter, but some IOs have asked for it.
People tend to be so spooked that they don't use common sense sometimes ;-)
 
eccevino said:
Crosshairs, do you mean I need to take a letter anyway? Even if I know it would not be applicable to me?
Click to expand...

If you were not required to register for SS like in your case you do not need anything. I didn't take anything, the IO knew right away I moved here when I was 27, he could see that on my passport and my other information. So right there he knew I didn't have to register or need anymore proof of that. Don't waste you time...
 
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