The War Department has issued directives which tend to retard or restrict procedure on citizenship for aliens in the armed forces, it was reported today by the National Refugee Service.
Under the new War Department instructions, aliens of two categories will be subject to further investigation than was required under the procedure as originally set up on May 29 which permitted all aliens in the armed forces to petition for citizenship after three months of service. For such expedited citizenship, provided under the terms of the Second War Powers Act, many of the usual naturalization requirements were waived, and an application form, N-403, was prepared for alien service men requesting citizenship under the new procedure.
However, more recent War Department instructions tend to restrict the granting of this simplified citizenship. Original instructions, covering even aliens of enemy nationality, called only for approval by the petitioner’s immediate commanding officer before a hearing by naturalization authorities. Under the latest instructions, such approval will not be granted to certain classes of aliens without the prior concurrence of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, (Army Intelligence) in the area where the petitioner is stationed.
The aliens so affected fall into two classifications. The first includes aliens of countries designated as “enemy” or “allied” with the enemy,” namely Japan and subject countries of the Japanese Empire; Germany (including Austria); Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, Finland and Thailand. The second group includes aliens who came to the United States after January 1, 1938, from the following countries: France, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg Greece, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Albania, Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania. Petitioners from either of those groups of aliens, therefore, will undoubtedly be subject to a waiting period pending the approval or disapproval of the Assistant Chief of Staff designated in the new instructions, the NRS announcement warned.
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