Green card soldiers died for adopted country

Nice article.

I think you were the one who asked a while ago if a GC holder leaves US for military duty, does that count as foriegn travel for citizenship application purposes. Specifically, if you travel outside for, lets say, more than 1 year on military duty, does that travel make your GC invalid and make your ineligible for Citizenship.

I confirmed with my JAG office - when in Military duty ANYWHERE in the world, you are considered to be officially on the US Military territory and NOT foreign territory. In your N-426 (that accompanies N-400) you state your travel as military duty period.

Basically, any military service simply CANNOT and will NOT be used to your disadvantage. Never.
 
Salute to you and other PRs in the military.

What does JAG say about INA 264 [8 U.S.C. 1304]?

(e) Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times
carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to
comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days,
or both.
 
All soldiers, when on duty, are bound by the Military Code (UCMJ) as opposed to the Civilian Code (USC). Military code takes precedence over civilian code, when there is a conflict.

So, for example, while on military duty, if you break the speed limits on an Interstate, the state trooper cannot give you a ticket based on the civilian law (but can report you to the military authorities)

INS cannot prosecute you for breaking their laws or deny your application, if your code of conduct was true to the Military Code. So if the Military code says, you should carry ONLY the military ID when on duty, and the civilian code says, carry your GC with you all the time, do what the military code says.

Interestingly, it is the Military Officers in INS Nebraska who take care of your N-426 and N-400 and forward that to regular INS officers for approval.

Basically, Military Code takes precedence, for people in the Military.
 
Why does the Navy nad the Marine Corps have much
higher percentages of non-citizen soldiers than
the Army and Air Force? Do the Navy have special
policy encouraging non-citizens?

Active duty

Branch of service: Non-U.S. citizens Percent of total
Navy 15,880 4.2%
Marine Corps 6,440 3.8%
Army 5,596 1.2%
Air Force 3,056 0.8%

Source: Defense Department
 
Good question. Navy and Marines do a lot of recruiting outside the US amongst those who are NOT even GCs !

That is right, you do not have to be a GC to be in the US military. And if you serve in the military in ACTIVE HOSTILITIES, you can apply for citizenship even without getting your GC. I was watching the TV coverage of the war in Iraq, and saw some local Iraqis serving the US marines by being the official translators. Even though are are not even GC holders, and even though they served for only 2 weeks, they can apply for immediate Citizenship (without going through the GC hassle!)

Navy does a lot of recruiting amongst local population in Okinawa (Japan), in Korea and Phillipines. That probably accounts for the vast #s of non-citizens in the Navy.
 
I am a beneficiary of that Executive Order. I did not have to wait for 3 years to apply (as required, for military personnel) for my citizenship.

That executive order, unfortunately, will not help a lot of military personnel to apply early for citizenship; it is only for those who are activated.

Active means, in military terms, "Ordered into federal military service by an executive order of the President of the United States". Basically, you get a letter from the Department of Defense to report to so and so place on so and so date and that you have been "Activated". Unless a war is upon us, NOT a lot of military personnel get activated.

About the "hostilities", that was there even before this Exec. Order. It is the actual word used in N-426 application. So, even before this Exec Order, if you participated in "Active Hostilities" in the US military, you could apply for citizenship immediately and the PR criteria is also waived.

But, as you rightly assumed, you have to have some special skills for the military to hire you, if you are not a PR.
 
Commissioned officers have to be citizens, I guess.
I assume that going to military academies like Westpoint
requires citizenship too
 
>But, as you rightly assumed, you have to have some special
>skills for the military to hire you, if you are not a PR.

Don't know what will happen if draft come back.
By law, even illegal immigrants are asked to register
SS. If such an illgel immigrant was chosen randomly
and report, would he allowed to join or wold be
sent to INS.
 
If Congress orders a war-time draft, everone who is drafted becomes a citizen, including illegals. It happened before.


Originally posted by AmericanWannabe
>But, as you rightly assumed, you have to have some special
>skills for the military to hire you, if you are not a PR.

Don't know what will happen if draft come back.
By law, even illegal immigrants are asked to register
SS. If such an illgel immigrant was chosen randomly
and report, would he allowed to join or wold be
sent to INS.
Click to expand...
 
This EO applies to ALL MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AS OF 9/11/2001. Specifically, all full time members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. Those who belong to reserve units that have NOT been called up or National Guard units that have NOT been federalized ARE NOT COUNTED.

Originally posted by JoeF
I think the websites of all military branches say that you have to be a PR of citizen to enlist. But it was always my understanding that if you have a skill they really need, like language skills to serve as translator, they get you in there.
According to the executive order, it doesn't have to be hostilities. Active duty is enough:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/07/20020703-24.html
Click to expand...
 
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I am gonna try HTML font to see if this works. Here we go :

__________________
At this time, you MUST have at least a green card to enlist in the armed forces, period
_________________

Generally yes, in United States. But the Military can enlist ANYONE they want in war time or to serve their purposes. I have personally worked with Japanese Citizens in a Naval base in far east. You can read N-400 guidelines for Military personnel; it says you can apply for Citizenship WITHOUT even being a PR, if you participated in active hostilities. Repeat, you do NOT have to be a PR to apply for Citizenship if you actually fought for USA. This immigration law has been true since world wars.

___________________
If Congress orders a war-time draft, everone who is drafted becomes a citizen, including illegals. It happened before.
______________________

You do NOT automatically become a Citizen, when you are drafted. There are three categories you can apply for Citizenship on Military criteria :

1) First category is if you actually participated in "hostilities".

2) Second Category is (because of the new EO) if you were activated. See my definition of "activated" above.

3) Third preference is if you have 3 years of Military service. All Military personnel are qualified in this.

The JAG offices are very clear about this.

____________________
This EO applies to ALL MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AS OF 9/11/2001.
____________________

NO. Read the EO and read my posts.
 
_______________________________
Commissioned officers have to be citizens, I guess.
_________________________________

Very True.

__________________________
If such an illgel immigrant was chosen randomly
and report, would he allowed to join or wold be
sent to INS.
___________________________

Please refer to the three criterias that I mentioned in post above. You can apply for Military Citizenship based on any of these criteria.

Also (and the JAG offices love to stress this point), your duty in the military service CANNOT be used against you by the INS. Never.
 
if you are overseas helping the US military you are not considered to have been enlisted for purposes of the current immigration law. You are enlisted only in the United States. And you cannot enlisted unless you are a PR in the absence of a draft!!!!!

The only way for a non-PR in the US to join the armed forces is thru the draft which is not active.
 
Oh, if you actually faught and died for USA, the Congress, at its discretion, may posthumously bestow US Citizenship on you. That has happened before.

Otherwise, you will have to apply for Citizenship yourself. Congress will NOT do that for you :)
 
_________________________
if you are overseas helping the US military you are not considered to have been enlisted for purposes of the current immigration law. You are enlisted only in the United States. And you cannot enlisted unless you are a PR in the absence of a draft!!!!!
_____________________

Immigration law wants to know if you contributed to American war effort, which means, did you FIGHT for the USA, or participate in some other worthwhile endeavor ... If you did, you will get your US Citizenship, enlisted or not, commisioned or not, PR or not, Citizen or not

I repeat, one can become a Citizen without being a PR, if you actually faught for the USA.
 
I do not know where on earth did you get the information. To qualify under INA 329, a non-PR person MUST MUST be in the United States at the time of his or her induction into the armed forces.
 
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