News Update - December 13, 2008
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
New Program to Expand Military to Include Legal Non-Immigrants
Who Will Become Immediately Eligible for U.S. Citizenship
Due to a shortage of doctors, nurses, and linguists, all branches
of the U.S. military are authorized to begin actively recruiting
persons who are legally present in the United States and possess
critical medical or language skills. The program will initially
be limited to a recruitment of 1,000 individuals and continue for
a period of one year. To be eligible applicants must have lived
legally in the U.S. for at least two years as a refugee, asylee,
or under “temporary protected status,” or under certain
other legal statuses, including non-immigrant working or studying
statuses, eg. – F-1, H-1B. Medical personnel are required
to serve at least three years on active duty or six years in the
Reserves. Foreign language specialists are required to serve four
years of active duty. Chinese is listed as one of the eligible languages.
Recruits will benefit from accelerated treatment in the U.S. citizenship
process. Service during a time of war allows persons in the military
to apply directly for U.S. citizenship without the need for first
applying for permanent residence and waiting a period of years before
applying for naturalization.
On July 3, 2002, President Bush signed the “Expedited Naturalization
Executive Order” calling for the expedited naturalization
of aliens and non-citizens serving on active duty in the US Armed
Forces during the War on Terrorism. The Executive Order allows active
duty personnel serving on or after September 11, 2001 to immediately
file for citizenship. Normally, a military service member would
have to complete one-year of honorable service before qualifying
to file for citizenship. Section 329 of the Immigration and Nationality
Act authorizes the President to waive this requirement during periods
of military hostilities.
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