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Hmmmmm... So a K1 visa is a fiance visa granted for the purpose of travel to the US for marriage. After the marriage you have to apply for a green card to gain permanent resident status. (At least according to Wikipedia). This is a temporary visa requiring that you get married, or get out.
I fail to see how any immigration employee when faced with an applicant that is not of traditional college age, applying for a non-education based visa, indeed a temporary visa that will require modification at some point in the future, would have any reason to assume that the applicant had aspirations of a college education, or have any responsibility to counsel the applicant of requirements to attain benefits of any kind related to registration with the selective service.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Gov is not obligated to inform you of any rights you may or may not have, or the steps you may have to take to attain those rights. The US gov does not provide this service to American citizens born on American soil. If you don't pay attention in your high school civics class, too bad, so sad. If you want some benefit, it is your responsibility to find the hoops to jump through, and the most efficient way to jump through them. Do I wish it was different? Absolutely! Do I feel for someone that has to go through the same shit as everyone else, citizen or not? Absolutely not.
I am an ex-pat American living in Asia. When I came here, they stamped my passport, which carried a three-year visa, and said enjoy your stay. They knew I would be here for three years and yet there were no offerings of classes or seminars on how to negotiate the medical system, the legal system, the requirements for anything whatsoever. Nobody gives one tiny damn about what I may or may not need or intend to do while I stay here. If I have an need, I better figure out who to ask about it, and it usually isn't anyone from the government.
I would challenge anyone that has lived in a foreign country on a non-permanent visa to provide an example of how the government of that country assumed what your needs would be and held your hand through the process at the time of entering the country.
In this case particularly, I don't see how the US gov would have any reason to know, or care about the compulsory service status of the applicant in his home country. No reason to assume that the applicant would have any need to apply for services requiring registration with the selective service. I would bet that they didn't give him any advice whatsoever of the process and time constraints, if any, of his visa status (a fiance visa- at some point you have to get married or get out).
Enjoy your stay in the US, but be ready to take responsibility for knowing everything you have to know about being there, cause no one is gonna call you to check if everything is OK.
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The difference between theory and reality is that in theory there is no difference.
"God made man, but he used the monkey to do it." DEVO
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