Important Update Regarding Special Registration

Posted on November 25, 2003

Reminder: Important Update Regarding Special Registration

Special Registration: On or Off?

Reports in various media, indicating that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning to eliminate Special Registration (also know as NSEERS), have confused many of the people subject to the program's ongoing requirements. It does appear that DHS wants to suspend at least some requirements of Special Registration, but the details are murky, and indeed there is no assurance that this suspension actually will take place. The one thing that is unmistakably clear is that all aspects of Special Registration--including re-registration and departure registration--are still in effect at this time. As discussed further below, failure to abide by the program’s ongoing requirements, even if the requirements are later dropped, could have catastrophic consequences for the subject individual. Therefore, anyone currently subject to re-registration or departure registration requirements must fulfill them.

Notice at OMB

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit of DHS has sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a notice titled “Suspending the 30-day and annual interview requirements from the special registration process for certain nonimmigrants,” which certainly indicates a desire to halt at least the re-registration aspects of the program.

But there is not assurance that a halt to this part of the program will become a reality. Part of the OMB review process is obtaining input from other agencies. Then, OMB, which is an organ of the White House, must ultimately approve the measure. Only then can the notice be published in the Federal Register and become effective. The OMB process can take a few hours or up to 90 days (the latter being the more common time frame). Sometimes the result of that process is that the notice is abandoned. If that happens here, Special Registration requirements would continue unabated.

Need to Follow Current Requirements

One has to assume that, even if some or all of the Special Registration requirements are eventually dropped, those who do not abide by the requirements while they are in place will suffer the consequences of not following them. Those consequences can include, and indeed have included, detention, removal/deportation, denial of immigration applications and petitions, and refusal to admit the individual into the United States. Therefore, right now, anyone who has a re-registration deadline must meet that deadline, and anyone who has been special registered must register upon departure.

Those who registered under call-in registration last year are required to re-register within 10 days of the one-year anniversary of the date they registered last year. Some periods encompassing the one-year anniversary for some call-in registrants are underway now. Please remember that the requirement is to re-register within 10 days of the one-year anniversary of the date the individual registered last year, NOT anytime within the anniversary of the overall call-in period for the person’s group.

Details regarding current re-registration requirements can be found on the ACLU website.

Other Ongoing Special Registration Requirements

As discussed above, as of now DHS has made no announcement regarding any termination of any aspect of Special Registration. If such an announcement is made, it is not known exactly what aspects would be eliminated and when the change would take effect. The title of the notice currently at OMB, “Suspending the 30-day and annual interview requirements from the special registration process for certain nonimmigrants,” offers some clues—namely that the re-registration requirements for port of entry and call-in registrants may be at least temporarily halted. Again, it is not known when this change would take effect, or even if it will actually happen.

Two ongoing requirements under Special Registration are not mentioned in the title of the notice that is at OMB: departure registration and change of address reporting. It is clear that the requirement to report a change of address within 10 days will continue, as all non-citizens are subject to that requirement, whether they were subject to Special Registration or not. What is not clear is whether the address change will continue to have to be sent to a special address, or whether registrants can send a change notice to the same address as everyone else.

The other mystery is the poorly-publicized and poorly-run departure registration requirement. Anyone who was registered at the port of entry or under call-in can leave the United States only from designated ports, and must specifically register their departure. This means ANY departure from the United States, including day trips to Canada to Mexico by casual travel means, as well as longer-term departures by air, sea or land.

Please note that, for departure registration, mere surrender of the I-94 card is not sufficient: a DHS officer must officially register the fact of the departure. Some major ports, such as the much-traveled land crossing at San Ysidro near San Diego, are not designated ports, so a person who was specially registered can never use such ports to depart. At some ports, particularly airports, the office for this registration can be difficult to find, and the wait to register can be lengthy, so sufficient time must be allowed to accomplish this task.