Pentagon Offers Military Jobs to Skilled Immigrants

The US military will recruit skilled immigrants living in the United States with temporary status, offering them a chance to become citizens in as little as six months.

Pakistanis and Afghans living in the US on temporary visas who can converse in the Pashto and Hindi languages may become American citizens within six months if they commit to serving in US military for more than three years.

Applicants must have lived in the United States for a minimum of two years.

About 8,000 permanent immigrants join the armed forces annually, the Pentagon said. About 29,000 foreign-born people currently serving are not American citizens.

Under a one-year pilot program, the US Army will begin the recruitment process for about 550 temporary immigrants who speak one or more of 2,035 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi (Urdu), Igbo (a language spoken in Nigeria), Kurdish, Nepalese, Pashto, Russian and Tamil. Spanish speakers are not eligible.

The program will include about 300 medical professionals to be recruited nationwide. Recruitment will start after Department of Homeland Security updates an immigration rule in the coming days.

The military will waive naturalization fees, which are at least $675. To enlist, temporary immigrants will have to prove that they have lived in the United States for two years and have not been out of the country for longer than 90 days during that time. They will have to pass an English test.