The US Migration Service told who more often began to refuse naturalization

Immigrants serving in the US military are denied citizenship more often than civilians of foreign origin. This writes the Miami Herald, citing new government data.

Фото: Depositphotos

According to the same data, the number of troops who applied for US citizenship has also declined sharply since President Donald Trump took office.

“There is a long tradition in the United States that when immigrants come to the United States, military service provides a path to citizenship,” said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, senior adviser to the liberal veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org. “And when they actually get pushed into the background, it seems like a strange turn of events to me.”

According to the most recent USCIS data, the agency rejected 16,6% of military applications for citizenship, compared to 11,2% of failures to civilians in the first quarter of the 2019 of the fiscal year, which covers the period October-December of 2018.

The data for the 2019 fiscal year is the eighth quarterly report on military naturalization rates since Trump took office. In six of the last eight reports, civilians had the advantage in approving applications over military applicants, which completely changed the previous trend.

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Lawyers for military personnel who want to become citizens, said that in 2017, the administration announced a new military immigration policy, and Trump’s overall anti-immigration rhetoric was to blame.

Military service no longer provides citizenship?

According to USCIS, in the first quarter of the financial year 2019, the agency received only 648 applications from the military, which is 79% less. For comparison, the agency received an 189 410 application, which is 34% less.

USCIS officials said that reducing the number of applications is not related to any actions by the agency that processes them as they are received.

“The decline in military naturalization applications is likely due in large part to the Department of Defense's decision not to renew the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program when it ended at the end of FY 2017,” USCIS said in a statement. .

The agency also said it continues to value military service.

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Immigration Barriers

Immigrants who want to become part of the US military are divided into three categories:

- permanent residents (usually have a green card);

— foreign-born recruits with key medical or language skills who came to the United States on student, work, or asylum visas, or were recruited through MAVNI;

- nonimmigrant persons with special status who are residents of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Palau.

Фото: Depositphotos

In 2017, the Trump administration announced major changes in the way the Pentagon will check on recruits of foreign origin, as well as other general changes regarding when a soldier will qualify for naturalization.

According to a retired lawyer, Colonel Margaret Stock, the changes were felt by all three categories of recruits.

Previously, immigrants could undergo basic training after a preliminary study of their case had begun. They could become eligible for naturalization after one day of military service. In accordance with the new policy, beginners do not go through basic training until their case study is completed. They need basic training and 180 days of service before they can receive citizenship.

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In the following months, the Ministry of Defense closed naturalization offices at some of the main training sites, citing a new policy.

Other changes were procedural in nature, but had a profound effect, for example, a change that only high-ranking officers were authorized to sign key forms of USCIS, certifying that the incoming served decently. According to Stock, the signatures also had to be original, which greatly complicated the task of troops in remote areas, where the nearest colonel or officer of higher rank could be hundreds of miles away.

According to defense lawyers, the new rules have a repulsive effect. According to the lawyers, the heads of the units that previously prepared the documents for the naturalization of their servicemen stopped doing this.

New rules made some recruits wait for service over the years.

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