April 29, 2011

DHS Withdraws NSEERS Country Designations

Effective April 28, 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will no longer register foreign nationals under the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS). By notice in the Federal Register, the Secretary of Homeland Security is removing all currently designated countries from the listing of countries whose nationals and citizens are required to comply with NSEERS registration requirements: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Nationals and citizens of these countries are no longer required to comply with NSEERS requirements, including the requirement that they exit through certain designated ports of entry. DHS stated that it was terminating the program because it found that, due to the development of and improvements to DHS' information collection systems and international information sharing agreements, NSEERS was redundant and did not provide any increase in security.