A new U.S. rule that will require foreign nationals, including Canadian snowbirds, visiting for 30 days or more to register is set to take effect Friday after a lawsuit aimed at stopping it was denied.
U.S. judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, denied the motion for a stay or preliminary injunction made in a lawsuit filed by the American Immigration Council in the District of Columbia.
“In sum, Plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on the merits of their claim because they have failed to demonstrate that they have a ‘substantial likelihood’ of standing,” McFadden wrote in his ruling.
The organization, joined by several other advocacy groups, had argued that the rule was “confusingly written and implementing it will cause chaos.”
The judge’s order effectively ensures the rule will take effect April 11 as scheduled.
The interim final rule was posted to the U.S. Federal Register last month and said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) were amending regulations to “designate a new registration for aliens to comply with statutory alien registration and fingerprinting provisions.”
The rule notes that under current regulations, “Many Canadian nonimmigrants for business or pleasure are not issued a Form I-94 even though they have not been registered through the visa process.”
It goes on to say the unregistered population covered by this registration rule, estimated to be between 2.2 million and 3.2 million people, includes “Canadian visitors who entered the United States at land ports of entry and were not issued evidence of registration (eg. Form I-94).”
In its argument to the court in response to the lawsuit, the Trump administration said they were simply enforcing an already existing requirement for everyone in the country who wasn’t an American citizen to register with the government.
Under the new rule, Canadians planning to cross the border for an extended stay of a month or more will have to register by filling out the new G-325R form if they fall under those not registered — a status that can be checked on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) I-94 website.
If you haven’t been registered, people are urged to create an account on the USCIS website and register with the new form.
source & photo: Global News
