ccalgreen

I've been reading about the selective service hurdle as it relates to the citizenship application of a former K-1 fiance.

Here is my situation.

• Arrived May 2003 on a K-1. I was 25 years old at the time.
• Tried to apply online for Selective Service, but couldn't register without a Social Security Number, which I didn't receive until after we got married in June 2003.
• Since I was now married, and I checked the box on the I-485 Adjustment of Status authorizing BCIS (as it was at the time) to apply for Selective Service on my behalf. Since the language on the form led me to believe in good faith that the BCIS would attempt to do what they offered to do, I did not follow up with registering online with the SSS.
• I turned 26 in September 2003, while my application for AOS was pending.
• My Conditional Permanent Residency was approved in January 2004.
• In 2007, I checked back with the SSS to see if BCIS had registered me. They had not, and had not told me whether they had even tried, or whether my application was rejected (for selective service; obviously, they had granted my green card).

My concern is the "good moral character" component of the N-400. I could wait 2 more years for the 5-year requirement to expire. Otherwise I believe it should not be an issue because:

1. As the K-1 fiance is classified as a non-immigrant under Section 101.(15).K of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and since I turned 26 before my adjustment of status to an immigrant was approved, I was never required to register for Selective Service.
2. I honestly believed that the BCIS would register me as they had clearly expressed it was their intent to do on the I-485, and that if they were not able to, I expected for them to inform me so that I could make my own arrangements to register. Hence, I did not "refuse or knowingly and wilfully fail" to register, which would have been the test for good moral character according to the UCSIS Adjucation Field Manual, Appendix 72-15: Effect of Failure to Register for Selective Service on Eligibility for Naturalization.

I understand that to prove Item 1, I will still need to procure a letter from the SSS to confirm, but before I submit that request, I was wondering if someone else has had experience of this or knows someone who has.

Clem

ian-mstm

This is really all that matters.


Sorry... wrong. The K-1 *visa* is a non-immigrant visa... but once you entered the US and the visa served its purpose, you became a de facto resident... and that's what's important. The type of visa is irrelevant; that you didn't have a green card is irrelevant; that USCIS didn't "follow through" is irrelevant. The onus is on you, regardless of what you were led to believe.

Since you're asking about the N-400, you must wait until you're 31 to apply for naturalization.

Ian

Duncan Roberts

This is my understanding as well. Very few people are exempt from registering. Students, tourists and diplomats seem to be pretty much the only ones. I guess I got lucky, I'd never even heard of the selective service until the card arrived in the mail.

David L. Beem

Hi Duncan,
> ...Very few people are exempt from registering. Students,
> tourists and diplomats seem to be pretty much the only ones...
*Foreign* students. Also Active Duty military, cadets at most
academies, men in prison or mental institutions, as long as they are
released or discharged after their 26th birthday. It should be said that
females in any category do not register.
David
[email protected]

ccalgreen

Oh, so the moment I got married, I was considered an immigrant despite the fact my I-485 application wasn't approved?

ian-mstm

No... the moment you used the K-1 visa and entered the US, you were considered an immigrant... even before you were married; even before you applied to adjust your status.

Ian

ccalgreen

See, that's one of the things I never understood about the K-1 being an non-immigrant visa, since the intention is obviously to become one (what's the point of having a visa that changes the bearer's status the moment he/she uses it?). The way I read it at the time, there is no legal status (under the INA, I guess) for a fiance to become an lawful permanent resident (unless, obviously, they had another concurrent status), only the married spouse of a citizen. That's why I thought it wasn't until I changed my legal status from fiance to spouse that I was even allowed to apply to become an immigrant (despite the fact I was resident in the country at the time), and, subsequently I wouldn't be considered having immigrant status until my AOS application had been approved.

From what you're saying, even though the K-1 is a non-immigrant visa, it has immigrant intent. That would set it apart from, for instance, my colleagues who came over on L-1 visas and subsequently decided that they wanted to become immigrants by filing for AOS?

Clem

Tracym

I thought Rene or someone referred in another thread to ticking the box on the AOS form as registering, even though the poster didn't realize he was doing so.

Implying to me that it was ok to wait for the AOS paperwork, not register as a K-1.

You know more than I about this obviously, it just made me wonder if this poster might actually be ok?

Noorah101

That wasn't me, but I do recall what you are referring to. Perhaps it was meauxna.

Rene

ian-mstm

Yes, that's exactly right. It's confusing, to be sure!


Indeed, yes.

WRT selective service, it certainly doesn't help any that the I-485 specifically indicates that USCIS will take care of the registration for you. I'm sure lots of young men are in the same situation... thinking USCIS will send off their info only to find out at some point down the road that it never happened. Pretty crappy when that happens.

Ian