International Issue Selective Service registation for non-residents

[Ray733]

There are up to 10 million U.S. citizens living abroad. Next door in Canada, for example, there is virually no awareness of the existence of the SSS. Does anyone have any comments about the constitutionality (or other legal/ procedural issues) of:
A) the presumption of knowledge
b) State guildlines such as refusing to grant/ renew driver's permits, etc.
c) the lack of a SSS general remedy/ exoneration.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Ray733

 

[freebird]

There are up to 10 million U.S. citizens living abroad. Next door in Canada, for example, there is virually no awareness of the existence of the SSS. Does anyone have any comments about the constitutionality (or other legal/ procedural issues) of:
A) the presumption of knowledge
b) State guildlines such as refusing to grant/ renew driver's permits, etc.
c) the lack of a SSS general remedy/ exoneration.

You may want to take a look at the Selective Services Web Site which contains a whole host of information that may be of interest to you. For those of you who don't know what this is, the law requires that all males are required to register with the US Selective Service within 30 days of their eighteenth birthday. It doesn't matter whether the male is a citizen, a legal resident immigrant or illegal immigrant. The only exceptions/exemptions are International students on F-1 Visas and some foreign citizens who are non-residents while in the US.

Regarding presumption of knowledge, the general rule is that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Personally, I find that notion rather challenging but that is the presumption. I'm not sure what the rest of your post pertains to and whether you had an issue of not registering and were subject to a penalty, which could affect one's ability to obtain what you state. I believe that state laws may also vary and some make the age to register earlier. I'm not sure how one would just "know" about selective services unless told by someone "in the know" or if visiting/emigrating then one might be so informed during the process.