Topic: A Kenyan Earns US Citizenship Through MAVNI
A Kenyan Earns US Citizenship Through MAVNI
A feature on ABC News shares the end result of a special pilot program that was implemented by the Pentagon in 2009. Five non-citizen recruits took an oath of American allegiance on Friday after completing Navy boot camp. They are among the recruits who were given the opportunity to enlist in the military and become citizens, through the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) program.
..Among the five recruits who took their oath last Friday were Abdisalam Omar of Somalia and Samuel Njuguna of Kenya. Both of them came to the United States as college students four years ago. Omar studied finance and accounting through a basketball scholarship, while Njuguna studied communications, wrote for the college newspaper and served as yearbook editor.
While Omar and Njuguna initially had other career plans, they both opted to enlist in the Navy as MAVNI recruits after earning their bachelor’s degrees – and earn U.S. citizenship in the process. They are headed for San Diego, California, and will be serving as linguists with the Navy SEALs.
Omar shared that he got excited with “the possibility of being associated with the Navy SEALs,” adding that becoming a sailor applied more “to my life and what I want to do with my life than business would.”
Njuguna, for his part, shared: “I saw this as an opportunity to use my knowledge to support a noble mission… I know the U.S. military is very helpful around the world and Kenya has benefitted from what the military is doing.”
http://blog.usnavyseals.com/2010/07/rec … -navy.html
**************************************************************************************
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS,
http://www.diasporamessenger.com/forum/ … php?id=222
U.S Military recruitment (MAVNI) program will help immigrants obtain citizenship by joining the military without even becoming a permanent resident first.
Program recruitment expires on 12/31/09
Program recruiting immigrants in non-immigrant visa categories e.g. F, M and R, asylee ( no B1 visitors)
program will apply citizenship directly for qualified applicants. Will be a citizen within 6 months to a year
No age limits
Special language and cultural backgrounds required or health care professionals. one of the required languages is Swahili and Hausa,
Must commit to 3 years of active duty or six in selected service
N.B. - If you are out of status, you do not qualify.
For assistance with applying contact Regina Wahome 202-372-6518.
READ MORE HERE BELOW
*********************************************************
MILITARY ACCESSIONS VITAL TO NATIONAL INTEREST (MAVNI)
RECRUITMENT PILOT
The Secretary of Defense authorized the military services to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills
are considered to be vital to the national interest. Those holding critical skills – physicians, nurses,
and certain experts in language with associated cultural backgrounds – would be eligible. To
determine its value in enhancing military readiness, the limited pilot program will recruit up to 1,000
people, and will continue for a period of up to 12 months.
ELIGIBILITY
1. The applicant must be in 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.
Health Care Professionals
• Applicants must fill medical specialties where the service has a shortfall
• Applicants must meet all qualification criteria required for their medical specialty, and the
criteria for foreign-trained DoD medical personnel recruited under other authorities
• Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English
• Applicants must commit to at least 3 years of active duty, or six years in the Selected Reserve
Enlisted Individuals with Special Language and Culture Backgrounds
•Applicants must possess specific language and culture capabilities in a language critical to DoD
•Applicants must demonstrate a language proficiency
•Applicants must meet all existing enlistment eligibility criteria
•Applicants must enlist for at least 4 years of active duty
(Services may add additional requirements)
Languages
• Albanian • Igbo • Pushtu (aka Pashto)
• Amharic • Indonesian • Russian
• Arabic • Korean • Sindhi
• Azerbaijani • Kurdish • Sinhalese
• Bengali • Lao • Somali
• Burmese • Malay • Swahili
• Cambodian-Khmer • Malayalam • Tamil
• Chinese • Moro • Turkish
• Czech • Nepalese • Turkmen
• Hausa • Persian [Dari & Farsi] • Urdu
• Hindi • Polish • Yoruba
• Hungarian • Punjabi
BACKGROUND
Non-citizens have served in the military since the Revolutionary War. The Lodge Act of 1950 permitted non-citizen Eastern Europeans to enlist between 1950 and 1959. Additionally, the United States officially began recruiting Filipino nationals into the Navy in the late 1940s, when it signed the Military Bases Agreement of 1947 allowing U.S. military bases in the Philippines. In total, over 35,000 Filipinos enlisted in the Navy through the program between 1952 and 1991.
Today, about 29,000 non-citizens serve in uniform, and about 8,000 legal permanent resident aliens (green card holders) enlist each year. Law ensures that the sacrifice of non-citizens during a time of national need is met with an opportunity for early citizenship, to recognize their contribution and sacrifice.
In fact, today’s service members are eligible for expedited citizenship under a July 2002 Executive Order, and the military services have worked closely with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to streamline citizenship processing for service members. Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 43,000 members of the Armed Forces have attained their citizenship while serving this nation–Army.com
See further details: http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/publications/D … 1131_8.pdf
Also: http://immigration.about.com/gi/o.htm?z … &sdn=/
For assistance with applying you can also contact Regina Wahome 202-372-6518.