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Parents

Information for Parents and Guardians

Registration with the Selective Service is not only important for the safety of our country, but it ensures that your son has every opportunity to succeed in life by getting the benefits linked to registration. This includes:

  • Access to many student loans, scholarships, and grants 
  • More than 2.7 million federal, state, and local government jobs 
  • Free job training under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 
  • A streamlined process for citizenship

Registration is not the same as enlisting with the US Armed Forces, and, as there is no draft at present, he will not automatically be inducted into the military.

However, this means he is not currently able to be classified. Classification, such as Conscientious Objector or Disabled classifications, only apply in the event of a draft.

Congress and the President require men to register and the Selective Service System is kept in a standby status, just in case a future crisis necessitates a return to the draft. Learn more about the Sequence of Events if we were to ever return to a draft.

Return to the Draft

Men With Disabilities

If your son is not confined to an institution or homebound (completely bed bound), he is required to register.

  • If a man is placed in a hospital, nursing home, long-term care facility, or mental institution on or before his 18th birthday, had no breaks of institutionalization of 30 days or longer, and remained institutionalized until his 26th birthday, he is not required to register.
  • If he is confined to home, whether his own or someone else’s (including group homes), on or before his 18th birthday and cannot leave the home without medical assistance (for example, by ambulance, or with the help of a nurse or EMT), and remained homebound until his 26th birthday, he is not required to register.

You may assist your son in registering with the Selective Service System.

Even though this may not make sense, the facts are that neither the Military Selective Service Act nor the Presidential proclamation provide an exemption from registration because of a man’s mental or physical condition unless Selective Service is provided with documented evidence that the man is hospitalized or institutionalized; or homebound and unable to function outside the home, with or without physical assistance; or is in such a physical or mental condition that he would not comprehend the nature of his registration with the Selective Service System. In these cases, a determination can be made by Selective Service as to whether or not the man qualifies for exemption from registration.

Please contact DMCSupport@sss.gov if you believe your son is exempt from registration. Do not send us PII (ie. birth certificate, social security number) via email.

Transgender People

US citizens or immigrants who are assigned male at birth and changed their gender to female are still required to register. Individuals who are assigned female at birth and changed their gender to male are not required to register.

OPM notes that “transgender” refers to people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from the sex assigned to them at birth (e.g. the sex listed on an original birth certificate). The OPM Guidance further explains that the term “transgender woman” is typically used to refer to someone who was assigned the male sex at birth but who identifies as a female. Likewise, OPM provides that the term “transgender man” typically is used to refer to someone who was assigned the female sex at birth but who identifies as male.

NOTE: Transgender students are welcome to call us at 888-655-1825 regarding their registration requirements if they need a status information letter from Selective Service that clarifies whether or not they are exempt from the registration requirement. Individuals who have changed their gender to male will be asked to complete a Status Information Letter (SIL) request form and provide a copy of their birth certificate. Keep your original SIL and send copies to state-based financial aid institutions if needed.

Status Information Letter