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Jul 31 2005
Department of Labor Guidance on Work Visas

Jun 17 2005
USCIS Memo Summarizes REAL ID Provisions

Feb 12 2005
PERM Faster Labor Certification Overview

Dec 9 2004
New H1, L1 and Investigative Provisions

Nov 16 2004
No Consequence for Failure to Register?

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No Consequence for Failure to Register?

The Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS"), legal advisors issued an opinion to William Yates, Director of the USCIS, that failure to register under National Security Entry and Exit Registration System ("NSEERS"), does not provide legal reason to deny a visa petition.
 
As may be known, "special registration" was implement during the last term of the Bush administration.  The administration under the authority of former Attorney General John Ashcroft, required many Muslim men between certain age groups from certain "watch list" countries to register with the immigration service.  These people were required to show up at one of the immigration sites and be fingerprinted, photographed and interrogated as to their whereabouts and plans in the United States.  The people who were subject to registration were threatened that failure to register, could lead to denial of immigration benefits, adjustment of status, visa petitions and result deportation or other penalties.
 
Thereafter, many of the people who complied with this law and voluntarily revealed their whereabouts and identities were thanked by being placed in deportation or removal proceedings.  Now, after the net was thrown and those that volunteered captured, the legal counsel to USCIS has issued a legal opinion that no consequence would come to those who did not comply with the law and wilfully failed to register. 
 
Essentially, the opinion states that if you did not comply with the law, you get away with it.  If you did comply with the law, the likelihood is that if you were out of status, you were deported.  Fortunately, for some who did not have status but had eligibility for relief such as cancellation of removal, the measure actually prompted the process for legalization.