USCIS Updates Alien Registration Instructions

in Immigration Actions Trump 2.0
February 26th, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it is reinforcing the legal requirement for non-U.S. citizens to register with the U.S. government under Section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1302) in response to the recent Protecting the American People Against Invasion executive order issued by President Trump.

Many non-U.S. citizens who have already been issued certain immigration documents (for example: an I-94 arrival record) are already registered. Nonimmigrant visa holders (F-1, J-1, H-1B, O-1, and their dependent family members who entered the US at the age of 14 or older) were automatically registered with the U.S. government when they first arrived as part of the normal processing at a U.S. port of entry and do not need to take further action. This means our international students, scholars and their spouses do not need to register or take any further action.

However, based on this new directive, nonimmigrant dependent children of our graduate students and scholars (for example F-2, J-2, H-4, O-3 dependents etc.) who turn 14 while in the US, must now register or re-register under this new DHS directive within 30 days of reaching his or her 14^th birthday.

DHS will introduce a new online form and fingerprinting requirements to facilitate compliance. We will update this page and notify our community once the form and further instruction become available. Please contact the ISSO should you have any questions.