Military paves way for citizenship for legal immigrants

More than 10,000 legal immigrants in the U.S. military became citizens last fiscal year, the most since the Vietnam War, according to preliminary figures released by the federal government this week.

While the citizenship process for some can take multiple years, about 10,505 men and women in the armed forces took advantage of the government's expedited citizenship process for green-card holders in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That includes 8,850 naturalized domestically and another 1,655 who were naturalized while serving abroad.

"Obviously we're delighted to have high-quality recruits willing to serve this country and citizenship is appropriate," said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Les Melnyk. "These are Americans by choice and they've chosen to serve their adopted country during a time of war."

Some, like Ismail Erdin, 32, of West Babylon, who became a citizen last month, say a quick path to citizenship was a draw in joining the Army's National Guard. Erdin immigrated to the U.S. in January 2008 and enlisted last October. While he has friends who have green cards and have waited more than five years to become citizens, his dream came true in a matter of months. "If you're in the service, they take care of you," he said. Erdin could not disclose his native country for security reasons.

Others, like Isaac Flores, 25, of Brentwood, who arrived from El Salvador when he was 4, say citizenship was an afterthought but a nice benefit.

Flores joined the Marine Corps in 2001, fighting in Iraq before getting an honorable discharge in 2005. He became a citizen last month. "I feel a lot better," Flores said.

Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that processes immigration applications, said immigrants are required one day of honorable service before they can begin the application process. The $675 in application fees are waived and processing time ranges from just 48 hours to several months. The streamlined process has been in effect since 2002, after President George W. Bush signed an executive order allowing expedited naturalizations for noncitizens in the armed forces.

"We've done aggressive work with the military," Rhatigan said. "We've got someone working with them on a daily basis."

Melnyk said about 8,000 green-card holders enlist in the military every year. Figures from August show there are 29,000 noncitizens serving the country - 18,000 in active duty and 11,000 in the reserves, he said.