USCIS has published a Fact Sheet about naturalization for members of the US military here. The sheet reminds people that some requirements for citizenship are waived for members of the military, including the residence and physical presence requirements. Service members do not need to pay an application fee or a biometrics fee to apply for naturalization. In addition, service members who serve during specifically designated periods of hostilities may not need to be lawful permanent residents.
For more information about naturalization as a current of former member of the military, see my prior blog postings here
USCIS recently published immigration information aimed at members of the US armed forces and their families. The information covers naturalization for members of the military, what happens if to interviews and filings when a person is deployed overseas, expediting spousal petitions for military personnel, and more.
I ran an article on this blog on February 4 about the new naturalization rules for military personnel: http://martinvisalaw.blogspot.com/2009/02/uscis-issues-new-fact-sheet-on-military.html. The New York Times then ran a story last weekend about the US government's plans to offer expedited citizenship to foreign nationals who served/are serving in US armed forces. (Click on headline above for a link to the article online)
The article quotes recruiters as expecting that:
the temporary immigrants will have more education, foreign language skills and professional expertise than many Americans who enlist, helping the military to fill shortages in medical care, language interpretation and field intelligence analysis.
The New York Times article explains that the program to allow non permanent residents to enlist will be limited to 1,000 in the first year. The new program will NOT allow undocumented immigrants to joing the military.
The Army’s one-year pilot program will begin in New York City to recruit about 550 temporary immigrants who speak one or more of 35 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Igbo (a tongue spoken in Nigeria), Kurdish, Nepalese, Pashto, Russian and Tamil. Spanish speakers are not eligible. The Army’s program will also include about 300 medical professionals to be recruited nationwide.
Language experts will have to serve four years of active duty, and health care professionals will serve three years of active duty or six years in the Reserves. If the immigrants do not complete their service honorably, they could lose their citizenship.
In recent years, as American forces faced combat in two wars and recruiters struggled to meet their goals for the all-volunteer military, thousands of legal immigrants with temporary visas who tried to enlist were turned away because they lacked permanent green cards, recruiting officers said.
The USCIS has issued a new fact sheet on the special rules that apply to naturalization for military personnel. A member of the U.S. armed forces must meet some of the general requirements for naturalization, such as good moral character, whereas some other requirements are reduced or waived. Filing fees and biometrics are completely waived as are the residence and physical presence requirements.
A military person can apply for naturalization if he or she has:
Served honorably in the military for at least one year;
Obtained lawful permanent resident status;
Filed an application while still in the service or within six months of separation.
A person can apply for "wartime naturalization" even if not a permanent resident if he or she has:
Served honorably in active-duty status for any period of time; and
Such active-duty service was during a specifically designated period of hostility.
For more details about naturalization for military personnel, see here.
In general, you can apply for US citizenship after 5 continuous years as a permanent resident (PR) or 3 years as a PR if you were married to a US citizen for the 3 years.
In addition to being a permanent resident for the prescribed periods, there are very specific residence requirements you must meet before getting citizenship. Generally, you must have been physically present in the US for half of the 5/3 years before applying for citizenship. You must also have resided for at least 3 months in the state where you are filing. Limited exceptions exist to the residence rules, and it is important that you have not done anything to break the period of residence. Please contact your attorney if you’d like specific advice about your situation.
In addition to the residence and physical presence requirements, an applicant for naturalization must show the following:
Good moral character
Attachment to the principles of the US constitution
Willingness to "bear arms" or perform other work on behalf of the US if required
Ability to speak, read and write English (unless eligible for a waiver of this requirement)
Knowledge of history and government of the US (unless eligible for a waiver)
There are special rules for people serving in the US Armed Forces, who can get a waiver of the usual residence and physical presence requirements, and do not need to pay filing fees. In addition, a person may be able to apply for citizenship before becoming a PR if the application is filed while on active duty, or within 6 months of leaving service. A person who served in the armed forces during hostilities and was honorably discharged or still serves, can also apply for citizenship without being a PR.
Information on naturalization generally is here. Information on naturalization for military personnel is here.
The Defense Department wants to enlist legal immigrants with critically-needed skills into the military. This pilot program is aimed at health care professionals holding needed medical specialties (physicians and nurses) and people with skills in strategic foreign languages and cultures, qualifications that are important to present and future military operations. The DOD has long allowed legal permanent residents to enlist. This program now allows nonimmigrant (temporary) visa holders to enlist, provided that they have lived in the US for at least 2 years.
Accelerated citizenship is available to people who serve the nation by joining the military during a time of war.
