March 3, 2025 Beginning February 25, 2025, foreign nationals who are not already deemed registered (as described below) are required to register with USCIS. Such registration is in furtherance of the Executive Order issued on January 20, 2025 by President Trump entitled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” which directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure that all foreign nationals comply with their duty to register with the government, with the failure to comply being treated as a civil and criminal offense. Who Must Be Registered Citing the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C.1302), which has been dormant and unenforced for decades, the Executive Order requires that all foreign nationals 14 years of age or older who were not fingerprinted or registered when applying for a U.S. visa and who remain in the United States for 30 days or longer, must apply for registration and fingerprinting. Similarly, parents and guardians must ensure that their children below the age of 14 are registered. Within 30 days of reaching their 14th birthday, the previously registered alien child must re-register and be fingerprinted. Once a foreign national has registered and appeared for fingerprinting (unless waived), DHS will issue evidence of registration, which foreign nationals over the age of 18 must carry and keep in their possession at all times. Who Has Already Registered? Foreign nationals who have already registered include: Lawful permanent residents Foreign nationals paroled into the United States under INA 212(d)(5), even if the period of parole has expired Foreign nationals admitted to as nonimmigrants who were issued Form I-94 or I-94W, even if the period of admission has expired All Foreign nationals present in the United States who were issued immigrant or nonimmigrant visas prior to arrival Foreign nationals whom DHS has placed into removal proceedings Foreign nationals issued an employment authorization document (EAD Foreign nationals who have applied for lawful permanent residence even if the applications were denied Foreign nationals issued Border Crossing Cards Who is not Registered? Foreign nationals who do not have any of the documents listed above may be considered unregistered. In addition, foreign nationals who have not submitted an application through Form I-94, Form I-95, Form I-181, Form, I-485, Form I-590, Form I-687, Form I-691, Form I-698, Form I-700 or Form I-817 and have not been fingerprinted (unless waived) in connection with such application are also not considered registered. This includes people who entered without inspection and had no contact with the federal government, Canadians who entered at land ports of entry and were not issued any evidence of registration, and TPS or DACA applicants who made applications for benefits but were not issued evidence of registration. How to Register Currently, there is no registration process in place, however, beginning February 25, 2025, foreign nationals who are required to register must create a USCIS online account at: https://my.uscis.gov/. DHS is expected to announce a new form and process by which foreign nationals may register. Parents and guardians will need to submit registrations on behalf of their children under 14 through their USCIS online account. We will continue to monitor the implementation of a registration process and will provide more details as more information becomes available.
