Selective serice letter

[CJack]

I have a simple question for you guys...

I was required to register, I was out of status at 25-26 but did not register because I did not know, I am now 43. I am applying in one month. Do I need a status letter? And do I need to get it before applying?

Thank for the help.

 

[baikal3]

Technically, the document checklist in the guide to naturalization asks that every male applicant, who was required to register for selective service but did not register, submit a status information letter with his N-400 application.
See http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/M-476.pdf

As a practical matter, since you are over 31 now, the failure to register while you were under 26 is not going to affect your eligibility for naturalization. See the selective service "sticky" at the top of this forum. So many (maybe most) IOs will not care if you don't provide a status information letter. However, USCIS is mainly a bureaucracy and IOs are, to a large extent, bureaucrats, and they like to have a piece of paper regarding the selective service in the applicant's file even if they don't really need it for evaluating naturalization eligibility. So I suggest that you do get a status information letter at least by the time of the interview, just in case. You never know if you are going to end up dealing with a particularly anal IO who treats the document checklist too religiously.