Nonimmigrant Registration for Selected New Arrivals
Posted Sep 13, 2002

A Federal Register Notice, published September 6, 2002, designated five countries as being subject to special registration requirements. Nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria will be subjected to fingerprinting and photographing upon their arrival to the U.S. as nonimmigrants. These individuals will have to register in person with the INS after 30 days and again on an annual basis.

The regulation applies only to nonimmigrant (temporary) entrants from the five countries. Individuals who are U.S. permanent residents or citizens are not subject to this requirement. The new rule also covers any individual whom the Consular Officer or INS Inspector suspects to be a national or citizen of one of the five countries, since documentation can be unclear in certain instances; cases of an individual possessing dual nationality or dual citizenship, for example.
 
We reported on the registration system at the time that it was proposed. For more information on this topic, and the authority of the Attorney General to issue this Notice under existing law, see our June 14, 2002 MurthyBulletin article entitled, Department of Justice Proposes Alien Registration, available on MurthyDotCom.