Woodrow Wilson photo

Executive Order 2461—Amending Consular Regulations 172

September 28, 1916

Paragraph 172 of the Consular Regulations is amended to read as follows:

Registration of American Citizens.--Principal Consular Officers shall keep at their offices a Register of all American citizens residing in their several districts, and will therefore make it known that such a Register is kept and invite all resident Americans to cause their names to be entered therein. Except in cases of emergency no person shall be given a certificate of registration until his application for registration has been approved by the Department. The general principles which govern applications for passports also govern applications for registration. (Paragraph 151.) The forms of application for registration will be prescribed by the Secretary of State.

The Register, which will consist of sworn applications approved by the Department, should show in the case of each person registered the date of registration, the full name of the person registered, the date and place of his birth, the place of his last domicile in the United States, the date of his arrival in the foreign country where he is residing and his place of residence therein, the reasons for his foreign residence, whether or not he is married and if married the name of his wife, her place of birth and residence, if he has children, the name, date and place of birth and residence of each, and any other pertinent information which the Department of State may require. The nature of the proof accepted to establish his citizenship should also appear.

Consuls may issue, upon forms prescribed by the Department, certificates of registration good for one year, for use with the authorities of the place where the persons registered are residing. When a certificate expires a new one may be issued, the old one being surrendered and destroyed, or the original certificate may be renewed for a period of one year if it is clearly shown that the applicant has not expatriated himself. Persons who hold passports which have not expired shall not be furnished with certificates of registration, and it is strictly forbidden to furnish them to be used for traveling in the place of passports, except in cases of extraordinary emergency when the Department of State shall expressly authorize their use for this purpose.

Returns of all registrations and of all certificates of registration issued shall be made at intervals and under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State is authorized to make regulations concerning registration additional to these rules and not inconsistent with them.

No fee shall be required for registration nor for any service connected therewith, except for the issuance of a certificate of registration, for which a fee of one dollar shall be required.

The Tariff of the United States consular Fees is hereby amended by the addition thereto of the following paragraph:

Certificate of registration of an American citizen. ...........$1.00

This order shall go into effect November 15, 1916.

WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 28, 1916.

Woodrow Wilson, Executive Order 2461—Amending Consular Regulations 172 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/275368

Simple Search of Our Archives