2005.8 (A) Works Initially Registered as Unpublished, but Ineligible for Registration as Published Works
Even though a work may have been registered as unpublished, it must be eligible at the time of first publication to be registrable as a published work. For example, if the author is a national and domiciliary of Iraq (a nation with which the United States has no copyright relations), the U.S. Copyright Office will register the work if it is unpublished. If the work is later published in another country with which the United States does not have copyright treaty relations, and the author’s citizenship and domicile remain unchanged, the Office will refuse to register the claim in the published version.