Contact Us | Selective Service System (2024)

FAQs

Contact Us | Selective Service System? ›

If you registered with your SSN, you can access your Selective Service number and date of registration online and print a copy for your records. If you do not have a SSN or did not provide one at the time of registration, please call us for further assistance at 888-655-1825.

Every man who is registered with the Selective Service System will receive a registration acknowledgement letter with a registration card in the mail from Selective Service within 90 days of registering. This is proof of your registration and can be used when applying for: state-based aid in 31 states. federal jobs.

Unless a man provides proof that he is exempt from the registration requirement, his failure to register will result in referral to the Department of Justice for possible investigation and prosecution.

According to law, a man must register with Selective Service within 30 days of his 18th birthday. Selective Service accepts late registrations up until a man reaches his 26^th birthday.

By registering all eligible men, Selective Service ensures a fair and equitable draft, if ever required. Exemptions and deferments apply only in the event of a draft.

A status information letter from the Selective Service System states the facts: Whether or not a man is registered; whether or not the man should have registered; or if he is exempt from registering.

Failure to Register for Selective Service

The officer may request for the applicant to submit a status information letter and registration acknowledgement card before concluding that he failed to register. The status information letter will indicate whether a requirement to register existed.

Any violation of the law carries a potential penalty if one is convicted. As mentioned earlier, the government has prosecuted no one for violating Selective Service law since 1986, yet hundreds of thousands of US citizens have been penalized since that time.

On paper, it's a crime to "knowingly fail or neglect or refuse" to register for the draft. The penalty is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Last year, Selective Service referred 112,051 names and addresses of suspected violators to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Summary of state laws that encourage or compel registration

Alaska, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and North Dakota. States that have not currently passed legislation linking benefits to registration: Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wyoming.

Is it mandatory to join Selective Service? ›

Almost all male US citizens and male immigrants, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service. It's important to know that even though he is registered, a man will not automatically be inducted into the military.

The requirements for exemption are: If a man is placed in a hospital, nursing home, long-term care facility, or mental institution on or before his 18^th birthday, had no breaks of institutionalization of 30 days or longer, and remained institutionalized until his 26^th birthday, he is not required to register.

Men turning 21 in the year of the draft would be second priority, men turning 22 would be third, and so on until a man turns 26, at which time he is over the age of liability.

Men, ages, 18 to 25, are required to register with Selective Service. According to 2022 data: The National Registration Rate is 84 percent.

Claiming conscientious objector status on the basis of sincerely held religious or ethical beliefs. Claiming a student deferment, when one is in school primarily in order to study and learn. Claiming a medical or psychological problem, if the purported health issue is genuine and serious.

Within 30 days of registering, you will receive the following in the mail: Acknowledgment letter. Change of Information form. Registration Acknowledgment Card.

If you registered for the Selective Service with your Social Security number, you can verify your registration online at https://www.sss.gov/ verify/. You will need to provide your last name, Social Security Number, and date of birth. Acknowledgement Letter from the web site and include it with your application.

An applicant who refused to or knowingly and willfully failed to register for Selective Service negates his disposition to the good order and happiness of the United States, attachment to the principles of the Constitution, good moral character, and willingness to bear arms on behalf of the United States.