OPM Issues Favorable Determinations in Failure to Register Cases

During the course of the past four months, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued favorable determinations in three separate Selective Service cases involving individuals who failed to register with the Selective Service. One of these cases involved a very typical fact pattern — our client was born in a foreign nation and moved to the United States to attend college when he was in his 20's. Our client was initially on a non-immigrant F-1 Visa which expired prior to his 26th birthday — at which time he was required to register, but did not. As in many other cases, our client did not learn about the Selective Service registration requirement during college, work or from any other source until well after his 26th birthday.

The other two cases involved clients who were born in the U.S. and were U.S. citizens. One client moved abroad with his family when he was six years old and did not return to the United States until after his 26th birthday. The other client, whose parents were both in the U.S. military, dropped out of high school and moved out of his family home at an early age and simply never discovered the existence of the Selective Service and its registration requirement until he was in the process of applying for federal employment and was rejected because he had failed to register prior to his 26th birthday.

In all three cases, we submitted strong supporting evidence demonstrating that our clients were simply unaware of the existence of the Selective Service and its registration requirement. In one case, OPM agreed with our position at the first-level review and, with regard to the other two cases, OPM agreed on requests for reconsideration that our clients' failure to register with the Selective Service was not knowing and willful. All three clients have now been cleared for federal employment.