This requirement, however, has been law for 50 years. Section 265(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 states: "each alien required to be registered under this title who is within the United States shall notify the Attorney General in writing of each change of address and new address within ten days from the date of such change and furnish with such notice such additional information as the Attorney General might require by regulation." The failure to comply with the provisions of INA § 265 is deportable, "unless the alien establishes to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that such failure was reasonably excusable or was not willful."

Although the INS has rarely enforced this provision, a number of persons have been arrested and taken into custody based upon their failure to timely file form AR-11 with the INS since September 11. The old AR-11 reporting requirement has attracted much attention recently.
Furthermore, the Department of Justice published a notice in the Federal Register on a proposed rule on July 26, 2002. This proposed rule would amend the regulations of the INS by requiring every alien who is applying for immigration benefits to acknowledge having received notice that he or she is required to provide a valid current address to the Service, including any change of address within 10 days of the change; that the Service will use the most recent address provided by the alien for all purposes, including the service of a Notice to Appear if the Service initiates removal proceedings; and, if the alien has changed address and failed to provide the new address to the Service, that the alien will be held responsible for any communications sent to the most recent address provided by the alien. This rule will satisfy the requirements for advance notice to the alien of the obligation to provide a current address to the Service, and of the consequences that may result for failure to do so, including the entry of an in absentia removal order against the alien if the alien fails to appear at a removal hearing.
The most direct effect of this proposed rule will be to prevent those aliens placed in removal proceedings who have been ordered deported for failing to appear at a hearing from reopening their hearing for lack of notice. Currently, an alien who can show that he or she did not receive notice of his or her hearing may file a motion to reopen at any time to rescind an in absentia order of removal. See also Matter of G-Y-R, 23 I& N Dec. 181 (BIA 2001)

Please submit written comments on or before August 26, 2002 to the Director, Regulations and Forms Services Division (HQRFS), Immigration and Naturalization Service, 425 I Street NW, Room 4034, Washington, DC 20536. To ensure proper handling please reference INS No. 2198-02 on your correspondence.

In light of the current situation, we recommend all foreign nationals in the United States to comply with this provision by filing Form AR-11 within ten days of the change of your address. You can download Form AR-11 from our "Immigration Forms" page in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese or Russian. Click here for Form AR-11.

For a complete text of the proposed rule, please click here. If you have no Acrobat Reader to read this document in PDF format, please click here to download a free copy of Acrobat Reader from http://www.adobe.com.

(08/14/2002)

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