Hi All,

Okie, this question has probably been asked a couple of times. ...but here is the context.

Married in 10/2005, wife USC.
Got Green Card in 10/2006.

I was interested in NAVY's careers and went to see a recruiter. Unfortunately, only US Citizens are eligible to apply for job in NAVY. I explained my case and the officer told me that I could apply for citizenship right now without waiting for the 3-year green card expiration ???
He said that if I had a statement saying that my citizenship application was in process, I could then apply for job in NAVY...

So, question : has anybody heard about such a thing???

Thx,

Groomit

I have not heard of what you are describing being possible, but that certainly does not mean it isn't true.

I am sure someone else here on VJ will be able to give you an answer.

Good luck.

If they say you can do it, give it a try. Although, if it's denied, then you'll be wasting away four-hundred dollars.

Might be confusing it with being able to get accelerated citizenship if you are in the armed forces, not the other way around.

PR's can join the Army, did not know the Navy was different.

Well, military recruiters don't know much about immigration

Permanent residents can join the military, Navy is not an exception. However, they cannot get positions that require security checks, because the military can only perfom security checks on US citizens, so the choice of jobs will be severly limited. Also - and that's important - if you are a green card holder, the expiration date on your card should be further away in time than the date that you expect to be discharged from the military. The standard commitment is 4 years, so conditional residents probably can't serve at all! But I would look into it some more, cause the rules are very unclear. I don't think the military has adressed the issue of conditional residency very well

You cannot apply for citizenship now. The recruiter was wrong. Sure, you can file an application, but it will be denied. The recruiter probably said that because to qualify for government jobs (police, fire department, 911 operator), you need to be a US citizen OR have a pending citizenship application. In your case, you can't have a pending application, because it will be denied right away.

What I know for sure - permanent residents can join the military, and they qualify for citizenship after one year of service (active duty, not reserve).

not reserve???? the "army reserve" just came here the other day and offered citizenship to all the Dominican Republic students here that are U.S. Permanent residents.

so you have to be full-time active service and not reserve then?

hey Bret
There was an interesting thread with the detailed information not too long ago. I did not know that the different branches of the Services have different requirements (PR, CPR etc) for signing on. It might be worth crawling through the regs at uscis.gov in the Natz section for the answer to your Q.

Was wondering about you two the other day.. things looking up, I hope?

This is an excellent post.

A little more info. To be an officer in military, you have to an U.S. citizen. If you plan on re-enlisting in the military after your original commitment, you have to be U.S. citizen.

Military naturalization is covered by sections 328 and 329 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. You have to serve at least one year in the military to apply under section 328. This usually applies to active duty military. Under section 329, you have to serve during an authorized period of conflict (war). This applies to active duty or reserve military.

The original poster might want to speak to another recruiter.