Question on non-citizen becoming an officer

[kumi]

Hi, I'm a 22 year old female foreign student graduating university this fall with a BA in International Relations, interested in joining the US Navy, and have some questions.

My first and most prudent concern is that of citizenship. I am aware that to become a commissioned officer, one must be a citizen. Given the details of other factors in my life, it's possible that I could receive my green card by next spring. However, actual citizenship remains at least 3 years away therafter.

Another one of my goals in life, in addition to becoming an officer, is to attend med school and become a doctor. My family is conservative and does not agree with financially me going to med school.

While I was talking with a retired Air Force colonel the other day, he mentioned his daughter had attended med school, with her tuition paid for by the Air Force. I looked on the Navy's website and found an education program that not only covers tuition, but hands out a $1200 monthly stipend. For me, this sounded too good to be true, and it was – since it's an officer program, again only citizens can apply.

I talked to another officer yesterday, and he suggested I consider enlisting in the reserves when I receive my green card. He said that reservists are entitled to certain educational benefits, but I'm not sure I would be eligible for such benefits, again, because I'm not a citizen. Further, I'm sure if the reservist benefits would even include med school tuition.

I want to go to med school as soon as possible, and become a doctor in the Navy, but the 3 year wait on naturalization is a serious problem. If I wait the years to become a citizen and apply for the Navy med school program, I won't become a doctor and receive my commission until I am 30!

I really want to be part of the Navy, as a doctor. But I also can't just wait around for 3 years. Can anyone help give any advice or ideas??? Thank you!

 

[Thisguy]

You said finances were a problem, but I would look into financial aid and go to Med School right away (without the Navy's program). Since Med school is 4 years long, and you say that citizenship is 3 years away, you could become a citizen during Med school and then talk to an officer recruiter soon after. Maybe the Navy will pay for your last year of Med School. I know it's not ideal, but like they say, time is money, and you can't put your life on hold for 3 years to become a citizen.

 

[Sabre170]

Not much help coming from my post, but I would think the US military will have programs set up for those that want to enlist or get a commission. I know we use to recruit out of the Phillipnes while we had bases there, but that may have been a special provision under the Status of Forces Agreement. I would look into it and don't give up with the first person who does not feel like helping you find the answers.

I would also look at getting accepted to Medical School first then talk to a Medical Recruiter.

All that said, I would imagine the military being a little more careful in its screening after 9/11.

 

[PropStop]

i've got a buddy from Pakistan who is a fellow P-3 driver. His brother is also a Navy pilot (S-3, 0-5 type guy). my friend had been in the US for a while before he joined the navy and joined with his citizenship. When his brother joined, he didn't have his citizenship so he went enlisted for two or three years, then got commissioned. I think there may be some benefit to going enlisted and gaining citizenship. if you went as an Corpsman (paramedic type guys) you could get great medical training for free and education benefits too. There are programs to pay for medical school, prior enlisted time would greatly enhance your ability to get into one of those programs (which are quite competitive i hear).

I hope you do join up we need more docs with good bedside manner

Good luck!

 

[Sea Lawyer]

Hi Kumi,

You realize that the age of 30 is not "too old" to have obtained a medical degree, right? Think about it like this... you have your whole life ahead of you. Furthermore, as a woman, you will inherently live longer anyway. My advice is to weigh your options. Maybe do a 3 or 4-year stint as an enlisted as others have suggested, get your citizenship, and then get the Navy to help pay for your school. No sense in taking on all that debt yourself if you don't have to. (This is all moot, of course, if you're somehow able to get some amazing financial aid for school.)

Good luck.

 

[kumi]

Thank you for your replies.
I am also thinking of going to school to fulfill the required credits for applying to medical school first and at the same time serving as an reservist to get some stipend.
I am sure that stipend will help my tuition for fulfilling the required credits at the undergraduate program just a little bit. Do you know exact salary I could expect as a reservist?

 

[wink]

I believe the min age for non prior service applicants to the Navy Reserve is 24. That is so the reserve guys don't compete directly with the active duty recruiters in those targeted age groups. Be that as it may, enlisted reserve may indeed be a worthwhile option. I am not sure, but it may also be true that as a memeber of the military you do not have to wait the whole three years to apply for citizenship. I remember certifying some documents for one of our enlisted that was applying for citiizenship and he mentioned special benefits in naturalization to military members. All that said, your enthusiasm and desire to serve your adopted country, especially in the Navy, is amazing. Good luck to you.

 

[dcharles]

kumi, first of all, are all of your pre-med requirements fulfilled and have you taken the MCAT? At this point, you are late on getting your applications out for school already. Ideally you should begin applying in May/June for entry into school in autumn of the following year. If fianances are your concern, there is an even better way to go than the HPSP program. The military has its own medical school, USUHS (http://www.usuhs.mil/med/). When you go HPSP you get school paid for and recieve a monthly stipend. When you go to USUHS, not only is tuition covered, but you receive full active duty pay, and your time at school counts as time in service and towards retirement, this is not so with HPSP. Be aware that when you join the military as a physician you are in for the long haul. HPSP carriers a four year committment, USUHS seven years. You are obligated to do a military residency (waivers may granted in rare circumstances) and your residency time does not count towards your payback.

Anyway, my advice is to enlist and get your citizenship, then look at USUHS if you want to make a career out of the military. Also, don't worry about OCS. As a staff corps officer you will attend OIS (Officer Indoctrination School) instead.

 

[manny7_99]

Kumi,

Like they all have said it, and I'll agree, enlist (active duty if you can), obtain citizenship, commission and attend medical school.

Enlist in the reserves if you are sure you want to pursue a military career. It may not be your best bet. Give active duty a try for 15 months or so. Under some options (6 to 8 yrs as a reserve) you will qualify for the GI BIll, take advantage of these. I'd suggest that you join as a Corpsman. Once you get out of enlistment (or even during if you have citizenship) you could obtain a direct commission as a doctor.

I believe the min age for the Naval Reserve is 21. However, there is always the Corps (And even the Army and Air force) if you dont mind enlisting into something other than healthcare.

If you enlist now, you will have the privilege of naturalizing really quick. This is due to our "war status" as a nation, President Bush enacted a Law in which foreign members of our Armed Forces may naturalize during their active duty service. I am not sure about this, but if you go reserve, I believe the whole basic training time counts as active duty. However, they may be changing this for obvious reasons.

I warn you though...Without an I-551 card (aka Green Card) you WILL NOT be able to enlist and there are no waivers around it. You said you would have it in three months so you should be fine. After a year in Active duty (or less) you should be able to naturalize and try and apply for an enlisted to officer commissioning program.

I hope this helps.

Good luck to you Sailor'

 

[Integer1]

Well..

8% of the Navy is foreign-born. Half of that number does not have citizenship. Now, of course, most of the 8% are from the phillipines or the dominican republic and you are most likely not from either country, but can still relate to them, being foreign-born.

And for 1% of the military, we don't even know if they're citizens, legals, illegals, etc:

"[T]he citizenship of 16,031 members of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines is listed as 'unknown.' That's about one in 100 active-duty military members who might be U.S. citizens, legal immigrants - or just about anybody else."

The Denver Post on Feb. 24

Option 1 - don't wait for the green card and just go into the service (apparently..)

Option 2 - Here is the hard truth, which actually isn't that hard at all. Okay, if you are not a citizen, you cannot be an Officer. SO the first step to worry about is becoming a citizen, if your goal is to be an officer or take advantage of navy programs requiring citizenship.

Guess what--waiting for citizenship as a civilian will NOT take 3 years. It might take 4 years. It might take 5 years. In other words, if the government says "you must wait x number of years to be eligible to apply for citizenship", this does not mean that you get your passport on the 3-year anniversary date of your greencard date of issue.

On the other hand, enlisting in the Navy provides much accelerated naturalization. Sailors could become a citizen ... well, in three years. But in the past several years, this process was accelerated by Bush and other factors to just one year! That's right, if you enlist, you could become a citizen after just one year. Then you could apply to be an officer under STA 21, or whatnot.

Option 3 - you wait out and probably FINISH MED SCHOOL by the time you are a citizen. They don't give out citizenships to just anybody in the civilian world, unlike the military, so you might end up waiting a bit.

Up to you!

 

[manny7_99]

Hmmm, when I started reading Integer's post I was like "where the Heck is he going with this?" However, He made a statement that is very true... After receiving your green cardYou will become eligible to apply for citizenship after 3 (or 5 years) but it may take several more years in order to be approved. If you enlist (Especially Active Duty, not sure about the reserves, as a I mentioned previously) you will be able to naturalize in months.

I have to disagree with something he said though, you CANNOT join the military without an I-551 card. That 1% that was mentioned joined, for the most part, before 9-11. Security standards are becoming tougher and all recruiters received recently direct orders prohibiting them from enlisting anyone without an 1-551 (AKA Green Card.) Sure you could try and join with fake papers and chaces are you could get by and buy yourself enough time to get naturalized. However, if you are caught before enlisting, or in the process of naturalizations you WILL either get deported or go to jail. I don't think I would like either one. My advice...Wait for your I-551 enlist and do some enlistment to commission program and have our taxes pay for your schooling while you naturalize