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July 24, 2026
GWP IMMIGRATION LAW
Alien Registration Is Mandatory Again Under a 1940s Law
Here’s who has to file Form G-325R, who’s already covered, and what it costs to ignore it.
Since April 2025, DHS has required most unregistered noncitizens age 14 and older to register with USCIS or face criminal misdemeanor exposure. A June 2026 final rule locked that requirement in place for good.
Updated July 24, 2026 · GWP Law · Las Vegas, NVTHE CONTEXT
Why Alien Registration Enforcement Is Back
Sections 262 through 266 of the Immigration and Nationality Act have required most noncitizens to register with the federal government since the Alien Registration Act of 1940. For decades, DHS did not enforce it.
That changed after Executive Order 14159, signed January 20, 2025, directed DHS to enforce the registration statute against every unregistered noncitizen in the country. DHS answered with a new form for this purpose, Form G-325R, Biographic Information (Registration), effective April 11, 2025.
On June 29, 2026, DHS adopted that rule as final, with technical changes to which documents count as registration. The requirement itself is not going away.
Is There a Hard Deadline to Register?
No single calendar deadline applies to everyone: it’s 30 days from arrival, or now, if you’re already unregistered.
The statute sets an individual deadline, not a collective one. Anyone who enters the U.S. and stays 30 days or longer must register before that 30-day window closes, and be fingerprinted as part of that process.
For people who were already in the country, unregistered, before the rule took effect on April 11, 2025, USCIS has not published one fixed nationwide cutoff date. The practical answer is that the 30-day period has already run, so registration is treated as overdue now.
Who Must File Form G-325R
You generally must file Form G-325R if you are 14 or older, will be (or have been) in the U.S. for 30 days or more, and have never been registered or fingerprinted under any prior immigration process.
A parent or legal guardian must register a child under 14 through an individual online account created in the child’s name, supported by proof of the relationship such as a birth certificate or a court guardianship order. When that child turns 14, the law requires re-registration and fingerprinting within 30 days.
Who Already Counts as Registered
Most people who have gone through any prior USCIS or CBP process are already considered registered and do not need to file Form G-325R. That includes anyone holding:
USCIS publishes an online Alien Registration Requirement Determination Tool to help confirm individual status before filing anything.
What Registering Does Not Do
Form G-325R does not grant lawful status, work authorization, or any protection from removal. It satisfies a paperwork requirement, nothing more.
It is also unrelated to the older G-325, G-325A, and G-325B biographic-information forms once used as attachments to benefit applications; those are separate, largely discontinued forms with no bearing on this registration duty.
There is currently no government filing fee to submit Form G-325R itself, though DHS has proposed a $30 biometric services fee that remains open for public comment alongside the rest of the final rule.
Filing does not erase immigration risk, either. A Harvard Law Review analysis has raised Fifth Amendment self-incrimination concerns about registering biographic and location data with the same government that can use it in a removal case.
Once a registration is accepted, USCIS makes a digital registration record available for download from the same online account used to file. Keep that record; it’s the proof you’ll rely on later.
Source: 8 U.S.C. §1306 (see References).
What the Penalties Actually Are
The registration statute itself sets a fine of “not to exceed $1,000” and up to six months in jail for willfully failing to register, and the same exposure applies to a parent or guardian who willfully fails to register a child.
Failing to carry proof of registration once you turn 18 carries a separate, smaller statutory fine, plus up to 30 days in jail, per offense.
Those exact dollar figures date to 1952 and were never adjusted for inflation in the statute’s own text. That’s why most 2025-2026 legal analyses instead cite a $5,000 maximum: under the general federal misdemeanor sentencing statute, a court may impose whichever is greater between the amount written into the specific offense and the $5,000 cap that otherwise applies to this class of misdemeanor.
In practice, that makes $5,000 the realistic ceiling for both violations, even though the registration statute’s own printed number is lower.
Separately, failing to report a change of address within 10 days on Form AR-11 is governed by its own, different provision and its own removal risk. Filing Form G-325R once does not satisfy that ongoing, separate duty.
A REAL CASE
A Green Card Holder Who Didn’t Need to File
A longtime green card holder called our office in 2026, worried after seeing news coverage of the registration requirement.
I reviewed his file and confirmed his Permanent Resident Card already satisfies the registration statute.
No G-325R filing was needed, and I told him so in writing so he’d have something to show if the question ever came up again.
The bigger risk I see in this kind of case isn’t the form itself. It’s people filing something they didn’t need to file, or assuming a form they did need to file protects them from anything beyond the registration duty.
What to Do Now
THE PATH FORWARD
Get an Answer Before You File Anything
This rule rewards accuracy, not speed. Filing when you didn’t need to, or filing without understanding what the record will later show, creates problems that a five-minute form doesn’t fix.
Our office reviews each client’s documented history first, confirms exemption status where it applies, and only then advises on whether and how to register.
References
- DHS Final Rule, “Alien Registration Form and Evidence of Registration,” Federal Register, June 29, 2026
- DHS Interim Final Rule, “Alien Registration Form and Evidence of Registration,” Federal Register, March 12, 2025
- Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” Federal Register, January 29, 2025
- USCIS, Alien Registration Requirement (includes the Determination Tool)
- USCIS, Form G-325R, Biographic Information (Registration)
- USCIS, Form AR-11, Alien’s Change of Address Card
- 8 U.S.C. §1306, Penalties
- 8 U.S.C. §1304(e), Personal Possession of Registration Card
- 18 U.S.C. §3571, Sentence of Fine
- Harvard Law Review, “The Immigrant Registration Requirement’s Self-Incrimination Problem,” June 2025
Not sure if you need to file Form G-325R?
Get a documented answer before you submit anything to DHS.
Book a Consultation →This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney before taking any action. · Last verified: July 24, 2026 · Reviewed by: Kathia Quirós, Immigration Attorney · GWP Immigration Law
