Immigration Benefits via U.S. Military Service

A new Department of Defense pilot program will allow non-U.S. citizens to enlist in the U.S. army and be able to obtain expedited U.S. citizenship.  The program
will temporarily permit enlistment into military service of certain legal aliens (who have lived in the United States for at least two years) and who hold skills that are critically needed in the military – medical specialties (such as physicians and nurses) and certain strategic foreign languages and cultures, qualifications important to present and future military operations.

The eligibility requirements are:

1) The applicant must be one of the following categories at time of enlistment:  (a) asylee, refugee, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or (b) nonimmigrant categories E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, O, P, Q, R, S, T, TC, TD, TN, U, or V.

2) The applicant must have been in valid status in one of those categories for at least two years immediately prior to the enlistment date, but it does not have to be the same category as the one held on the date of enlistment; and

3)  An applicant who may be eligible on the basis of a nonimmigrant category at time of enlistment (see 1b above) must not have had any single absence from the United States of more than 90 days during the two year period immediately preceding the date of enlistment.

The pilot program is open to 1,000 people and will be reevaluated after 12 months.