Men born from March 29, 1957 through December 31, 1959, were not required to register with the Selective Service System because the registration program was suspended when they would have reached age 18. The requirement to register with Selective Service was reinstated in 1980, but only for men born January 1, 1960, or later.
Status Information Letter Not Required
Men born before 1960 are not required to be registered with Selective Service to be eligible for federal student loans or grant programs (includes Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans), federal job training (WIA), and federal jobs, including the U.S. Postal Service. Thus, they should not be asked to provide a status information letter from Selective Service.
NOTE: Immigrants born before 1960 who are seeking U.S. citizenship may be asked by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to provide a status information letter. However, for applicants over 31 years of age, the applicant is eligible for naturalization even if the applicant knowingly and willfully failed to register because the applicant's failure to register would be outside of the statutory period (See USCIS Policy Manual - Volume 12 - Part D - Chapter 7).
Message for Financial Aid Officers and Registrars
FAFSA applicants born before 1960:
Students applying for student financial aid who were born before 1960 are NOT required to obtain a status information letter from the Selective Service System. Under federal law [34 CFR 668.37(a)(2)(i)], a male student does not have to register with Selective Service to be eligible to receive title IV, HEA program funds if he was born before January 1, 1960. Therefore, a letter from Selective Service is NOT required for students born before 1960 because federal law clearly exempts them from the registration requirement.
In addition, note that the Student Financial Aid Handbook, Volume 1, Chapter 5, states, “Unless you can document that the student meets one of the allowable exemptions regarding registration …, the student must write Selective Service to get a status information letter addressing his failure to register.” For the student born before 1960, the required documentation is provided in 34 CFR 668.37(a)(2)(i), and in the Student Financial Aid Handbook. Both the Code of Federal Regulations and the Handbook document the fact that students born before 1960 are exempted from the registration requirement. Hence, no additional documentation from Selective Service is needed.
The Student Financial Aid Handbook states, “…non-citizens who first enter the U.S. after the age of 26 aren’t required to register. Only those immigrant men who enter and live in the U.S. at ages 18 through 25 are required to be registered. If a male immigrant can show proof that he first entered the U.S. when he was past registration age, he is clearly not required to be registered, and no status information letter is needed. The student’s entry documentation is enough to show whether he was required to register.”
Refer to your Student Financial Aid Handbook, Volume 1, Chapter 5, on Selective Service:
https://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1819FSAHbkVol1Ch5.pdf
FEDERAL JOB TRAINING
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (formerly known as the Workforce Investment Act), offers programs that can train young men for jobs in auto mechanics and other skills. This program is only open to those men who register with Selective Service. Only men born after December 31, 1959, are required to show proof of registration.
FEDERAL JOBS
A man must be registered to be eligible for jobs in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal Service. Proof of registration is required only for men born after December 31, 1959.