Selective Service Question

D

dineshgk

Registered Users (C)
Hello All,

I was looking into the application INstructions for N400 and there is a requirement for Selective Service Form.

1. Does everyone need to have this Selective Service Registration?
2. I looked at the application form for Selective Service and they are asking for a Reason why this was not done... What should be entered here... I did not know what this is until now.
3. Can i proceed with Application N400 and then apply for this Selective Service parallely or should i wait and get this before i apply.

Thanks,
Dinesh
 
oops.
All the males between age of 18 to 26 anytime they were/are in the United States have to register with selective service.

If this is/was applicable to you, and you failed to register I don't know what you should do.
 
Nimche said:
oops.
All the males between age of 18 to 26 anytime they were/are in the United States have to register with selective service.

If this is/was applicable to you, and you failed to register I don't know what you should do.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Not all. Only if you were here in a status other than valid non-immigrant status between 18-26.

As an example, say you were in US and got your green card before 26 - then yes you have to register. This is one example.
 
CrossHairs said:
Wrong. Not all. Only if you were here in a status other than valid non-immigrant status between 18-26.

As an example, say you were in US and got your green card before 26 - then yes you have to register. This is one example.
Click to expand...

That is correct. Those requiring status letters also includes undocumented immigrants, and anyone who were ever out of status. e.g. overstayed a previously valid visa.
 
I came in US in August 1996 when i was 24 years old. I came on F1 visa and i did my graduation and was in college untill i was 26.

My International Student Office did not mention anything about this. So am i under the gun now?

Thanks,
 
F1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa. Your international student office wasn't supposed to mention it, because F1 students (and other people with valid nonimmigrant status) don't have to register.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
dineshgk said:
So am i under the gun now?
Click to expand...

Hi dineshgk,

Don't worry about it. I had never heard about Selective Service either until I had to read the instructions for the N-400 form.

The good news is that you can easily take care of this.

Just get a Status Information Letter from Selective Service indicating that you were not required to register.
The process is very straight-forward.

Here's what you have to do:
Write a letter to Selective Service (ATTN:SIL, PO Box 94638 Palatine, IL 60094-4638) requesting a Status Information Letter.
In this letter, you mention that you were a lawful non-immigrant from the time you entered the United States and remained at a lawful non-immigrant status until your 26th birthday (I am assuming that you did not get your green card until after you were 26).

Along with the letter, provide copies of your H1B visas (approval notices) or any other non-immigrant visa you had until age 26. (F1 in your case)
You also need to fill out the standard form that can be found at this link: http://www.sss.gov/instructions.html
Enclose it with your letter/copies of visas.

That's it!

Selective Service will send you a letter which will state the following:

"Based upon our records and the information you provided you were not required to register with Selective Service..."


Then you are done with it, and don't need to worry about it anymore.

By the way, they were pretty quick replying to me - I got the letter from them less than two weeks after submitting the request.

Good luck!

suresh_colo
 
Sorry for mis-information. I totally forgot about being on non-immigrant visa status.
 
I sent the application to the selective service system after I got "overstayed". I got a card back from SSS with a registration number, but the social security number space, was blank.
 
suresh_colo said:
Here's what you have to do:
Write a letter to Selective Service (ATTN:SIL, PO Box 94638 Palatine, IL 60094-4638) requesting a Status Information Letter.
In this letter, you mention that you were a lawful non-immigrant from the time you entered the United States and remained at a lawful non-immigrant status until your 26th birthday (I am assuming that you did not get your green card until after you were 26).

Along with the letter, provide copies of your H1B visas (approval notices) or any other non-immigrant visa you had until age 26. (F1 in your case)
Click to expand...

SSA will let you know what extra docs they want from you. Quite often I believe they will ask for transcripts and semester dates etc, just to make sure you were actually attending college, and therefore not out of status.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top