December 1, 2003
Changes to Special Registration Requirements (NSEERS)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced two important
changes to the Special Registration program, to take effect upon the publication
of a regulation in tomorrow's Federal Register. The regulation suspends
the 30-day re-registration and annual interview requirements for certain
non-immigrants.
It is important to note that all non-immigrants subject to Special Registration
are still required to register at the port of exit when leaving the United
States. Also note that those who are subject for the 30-day or annual re-registrations
with deadlines prior to December 2, 2003, will still be considered in violation
of their non-immigrant status if they fail to comply. Failure to comply
can result in grounds for removal from the United States.
The DHS states that the decision to suspend these requirements was made
in anticipation of the new system, US-VISIT, that will collect information
and biometric data from visitors to the United States in the future. The
SEVIS system, which is already in place to track international students,
together with the US-VISIT system, when fully implemented, will together
render NSEERS redundant. US-VISIT is expected to be in place and operating
in January 2004.
The changes to the requirements outlined above will be in effect immediately,
but the DHS has provided for a 60-day comment period to the rule and it
is therefore possible that the requirements can be re-instituted. Furthermore,
at the discretion of the DHS, a visitor may still be called to appear for
registration if deemed necessary.
The rule also allows registrants to apply for relief from departure registration
requirements. Specifically, the rule sets forth a procedure through which
a foreign national subject to the NSEERS departure requirements may, prior
to his or her departure, seek relief from "an official designated by DHS
or from the CBP field office director for the port from which the alien
intends to depart." The foreign national must establish that "exigent or
unusual circumstances exist" and that a favorable exercise of discretion
is warranted. Furthermore, a foreign national who has been registered and
who makes frequent trips to the United States may be exempted from future
POE registrations upon a showing of "good cause, exigent or unusual circumstances."
The application for this exemption is made to the CBP field office director
over the port through which the foreign national most frequently arrives
in the United States. It is still unclear, however, as to what would constitute
such good cause or exigent circumstances.
NSEERS stands for National Security Entry/Exit Registration System, and
was the first step by the Department of Justice and the DHS to comply with
the congressionally-mandated requirement to implement a comprehensive program
to track foreign visitors in the United States. Certain nationals of Afghanistan,
Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia,
Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen are
subject to NSEERS.
For additional information and background on the requirements, please
refer to our previous alerts. Greenberg
Traurig will continue monitoring new developments.
DHS Fact Sheet on NSEERS (PDF/193 kb, 4 pages)
DHS FAQs on Changes to NSEERS (PDF/152 kb, 2 pages)
DHS Press Release on Changes to NSEERS, Dec. 1, 2003 (PDF/149 kb,
2 pages)
|
|