Earlier this year, President Trump signed yet another immigration Executive Order, effective April 11^th, directing the Homeland Security Department to register non-citizens inside of the US that he considers “illegal”. The supposed basis for this new requirement was actually an old, World War II era law from 1940. That law is widely understood to have been passed by Congress in an effort to keep track of foreign nationals in the US from one of the Axis countries with which we were at war. After the war ended, the registration requirement was largely ignored, in main part because anybody coming to the US legally was automatically registered and fingerprinted as part of the normal immigration process.

Initially, it’s important to understand that, even under this “new” registration scheme, nearly all non-citizens in the US legally are still considered to already be fully registered. That includes, for example:

• Lawful Permanent Residents (“greencard” holders);
• Anybody who has applied for a greencard and been fingerprinted;
• Anybody who was issued a nonimmigrant (temporary) visa from a US consulate abroad, before their last arrival in the US;
• Other nonimmigrants without visas in their passports, but who were issued a formal I-94 admission record at the US border or airport;
• Anybody who was issued a temporary employment authorization document (“EAD” card);
• Anybody who was issued a Border Crossing Card.

Note that there are a few other categories of individuals considered to be already registered. So, double-check the USCIS webpage carefully if none of the above descriptions clearly apply to you.

As a special note for children younger than age 14: Young children are often not fingerprinted and formally registered when they apply for a visa abroad or for a greencard. So, if they are inside of the US on their 14^th birthday, their parents must register them within 30 days after reaching the age of 14 on the USCIS website linked above.

In addition, Canadian citizens in the US as Visitors for more than 30 days are most often not issued a formal I-94 admission record at the US border. They must also now promptly submit the new G-325R registration form online to register their presence in the US.

Penalties for not registering can be significant, including fines up $5000 and even potential jail time. If you are over age 18 and manually register online under this new program, because you were not automatically registered upon entry to the US, you must carry proof of registration with you at all times. Anybody who was automatically registered upon entry, must simply carry proof of their identity and lawful immigration status, as before.

Finally, remember that, even after you are properly registered, all non-citizens in the US remain required to then notify the USCIS within 10 days of any US home address change. See here for how to do that: https://www.uscis.gov/addresschange. Penalties for failure to submit timely home address changes can similarly be severe.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about this “new” registration requirement, don’t hesitate to reach out to your AMS Global Immigration attorney, at any time. We are your U.S. Immigration Business Partners, and we’re here to help!