U.S News

FORT JACKSON, S.C. – Military assist has daylong been digit line to U.S. citizenship. Now the Army and Navy, in requirement of specialists and module skills in wartime, are motion things up by allowing recruits to twine up the impact patch they're still in base training.

It effectuation a modify in a no-visitors contract during rush camp, to allow federal migration officers admittance to the recruits. But expeditionary officials feature it's a well-deserved fortuity for volunteers who otherwise would hit to plod finished the bureaucratic trial during deployments around the world, ofttimes farther from U.S. embassies.

The expeditionary line is not a short-cut for foreigners abroad to intend into the U.S. Only legal immigrants crapper apply, officials stress, and they must rank fivesome eld of revered assist or chance having their citizenship revoked.

"The moment the state Union broke up, I definite USA was the locate for me to be," said Spec. Rima Rusnac, 33, of the past state commonwealth of Moldova, foregather after attractive her dedication of citizenship recently. "In America, I crapper upbringing my flooded potential and be free."

Rusnac, who holds a college honor in arts and German, was closing rush tent at Fort Jackson, the Army's maximal upbringing installation. She was headlike for boost upbringing as a conflict medic at Fort Sam metropolis in Texas, a skill that is at a premium because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As she spoke, octad another soldiers from countries including Iran, Haiti, Australia and Bangladesh celebrated and showed friends and kinsfolk their newborn citizenship papers, foregather a day before they were every cod to correct from their 10 weeks of Army base training.

"In February alone, we took in more than 200 applications," said Karen Dalziel, an tar from Homeland Security's citizenship and migration arm, who administered the dedication to the soldiers.

Dalziel said she has been dedication in 30 to 50 soldiers on a weekly basis.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, helped speed up citizenship for expeditionary recruits. President George W. Bush subscribed an chief visit allowing a more shut instance frame because the nation was in a "period of hostilities." Before the change, expeditionary members had to serve digit assemblage of revered assist to even begin the sometimes-lengthy impact of applying.

It crapper be arduous for expeditionary applicants to intend admittance to U.S. officials patch deployed around the world. So the Army unsealed the doors at its fivesome base upbringing sites to migration officials in New 2009, and the Navy terminal assemblage started hosting migration officials at its azygos base upbringing place nearby Chicago.

About 1,000 soldiers and sailors complete the citizenship impact at base upbringing sites in business assemblage 2010, which ended Sept. 30. About 660 hit been able to rank it in the first six months of this business year, said Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington.

Of course, whatever applicants had begun their impact toward citizenship writing eld ago. Overall, the polity acknowledged citizenship to 11,146 assist members in business 2010. Between Sept 2001 and the first part of the 2011 business year, whatever 68,974 members of every assist branches hit embellish citizens, the agency says.

Men and women from another nations are grave to America's defense, expeditionary and polity officials say, because of the primary language, education or employ skills they have. Applicants must foregather every the criteria for citizenship, including passing every section clearances and tests.

According to a U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command writing outlining the newborn information that was prefabricated available to The Associated Press, the Army and the migration assist are cooperating "to aid citizenship processing for every non-citizen Soldiers."

"Receiving citizenship as primeval as possible benefits the Soldier by opening up additional MOS (enlisted jobs, or expeditionary activity specialty) options. Deployed commanders on the ground also benefit as they ofttimes visit Soldiers with clearances which crapper only be acknowledged to citizens," said the so-called tasking visit outlining the program.

The modify in contract that had obstructed most visitors during rush tent now allows the migration division to story officers to the expeditionary posts to support applicants rank the often-complicated process.

"We verify their fingerprints, their photos. We discourse them, and see most their application and eligibility requirements. They verify the U.S. polity story test," said Dalziel.

Lt. Col. Brian Hernandez, who is in charge of most 1,100 recruits at Fort politician during apiece upbringing cycle, said he's had 40 to 60 applicants for citizenship in every group he's commanded over the past 18 months. While in Iraq, he saw how arduous it was for the immigrant-applicants to intend paperwork completed. Oftentimes, a file would foregather intend lost and change to follow the shirker from place to post.

"We had soldiers bringing in the war, and they were trying to care with a long citizenship process, and care with that patch we were deploying," which also created difficulties for commanders because of their absences, Hernandez said.

Hernandez, who said his possess father was an immigrant from Argentina, is smooth in European and Spanish. He said he was dispatched to South USA for two eld as a allegoric of the U.S. Army and believes it is essential for the expeditionary to hit soldiers from whatever cultures.

"We encounter ourselves participating in places that we've historically not been participating in. We haw not hit those module skills, so we requirement to alter in primary people," he said, noting in portion the deficiency of grouping in USA able to speak Arabic or another Middle Eastern tongues.

Hernandez said he's had soldier-applicants from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Eastern aggregation and Asia. "You are sight it from crossways the globe," he said.

Translators he knew who were hired by the Army in Irak and Afghanistan hit embellish to the United States to enlist, Hernandez said. "And they go back, not only as U.S. soldiers, but as U.S. citizens," he said. "That's awesome."

During the past year, migration officials hit worked with immigrant soldiers and recruits at the Army's base upbringing installations in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; Fort Sill, Okla.; Fort Benning, Ga.; and Fort Knox, Ky. The Navy's azygos base upbringing place is Naval Station Great Lakes north of Chicago.

During the base upbringing regime, recruits don't intend whatever primary instance to think for their citizenship tests. They hit to ready up with their 12 to 16-hour days of training, upbringing and collection work. If they fail, they crapper essay again during modern training, Hernandez said.

"My content is to fisticuffs terrorists," said Army Spec. Shaheen Bahamin, 19, who fled Iran with his kinsfolk and spent the terminal 11 eld in Calif. after whatever instance in Pakistan, where he picked up a portion accent spoken in both Iran and Afghanistan.

Terrorists, he said, "They are foregather power-hungry. In the Middle East, they would blackball their possess family. It could be my kinsfolk they kill. That's what I'm here, to fisticuffs them."

Spec. Hamid Ennouri, a 26-year-old French-Moroccan smooth in Arabic, French, arts and Spanish, is heading to upbringing in logistics, using his languages to ready supplies flowing to troops stationed around the globe.

"American is the strongest country in the world," said the one-time Parisian, who said his college studies in accumulation and planetary business couldn't support him encounter work. "I am fascinated in expeditionary info impact too, but I needed U.S. citizenship to intend the section clearances," Ennouri said.

Pvt. saint Noble, of New Brunswick, Canada, said he applied for citizenship in visit to embellish a pilot.

"I heard the fastest way to intend airman upbringing was finished the military," said the new mated 28-year-old, headlike to repairing Blackhawk helicopters before he hopes to front toward a air job.

Lawrence Korb, who headlike the Defense Department's organisation and logistics division during the Reagan administration, said the expeditionary turns over tens of thousands of grouping annually, swing it on a unceasing search for talented members.

"The expeditionary is happy to hit these grouping because they hit a heck of a instance effort enough eligible folks," said Korb, who is a grownup man at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.

"And to essay to care with the Embassy in Baghdad or Kabul, that's a nightmare," said Korb. "This makes a enthusiastic care of sense."

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Online:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

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