[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1616 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1616

    To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the 
   granting of United States citizenship, through the issuance of a 
  certificate of citizenship, to any person who, after obtaining the 
status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, completes 
 3 years of honorable service on active duty in the Armed Forces, and 
                          for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 26, 2001

 Mr. Keller (for himself and Mr. Diaz-Balart) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the 
   granting of United States citizenship, through the issuance of a 
  certificate of citizenship, to any person who, after obtaining the 
status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, completes 
 3 years of honorable service on active duty in the Armed Forces, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans' Citizenship Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. CITIZENSHIP FOR LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT ALIENS COMPLETING 3 
              YEARS OF HONORABLE SERVICE IN THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) In General.--Section 328 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 
(8 U.S.C. 1439) is amended to read as follows:

 ``citizenship through service in the armed forces of the United States

    ``Sec. 328. (a) A person described in subsection (b) may apply for 
naturalization under this section without regard to any other 
requirement of this title. Such an application may be filed abroad. The 
Attorney General shall approve an application for naturalization under 
this section, and shall issue a certificate of citizenship to the 
person filing the application, upon proof that the requirements of 
subsection (b) have been met.
    ``(b)(1) A person described in this subsection is a person who, 
after acquiring the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 
residence, serves on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United 
States and either--
            ``(A) completes not less than 3 years of such service 
        characterized by the Secretary concerned as honorable service; 
        or
            ``(B) is discharged from the Armed Forces due to disability 
        associated with wounds received while on active duty that 
        resulted in the award of the Purple Heart.
    ``(2) The Attorney General shall accept as sufficient documentation 
of service referred to in paragraph (1)(A)--
            ``(A) duly authenticated copies of the records of the 
        executive department having custody of the records of the 
        person's service, showing the period of such service and the 
        characterization of such service; or
            ``(B) in the case of a person separated from active duty in 
        the Armed Forces before submitting an application under this 
        section, the person's official certificate of separation from 
        active duty (known as a `DD 214 Form'), showing the period or 
        periods that the person served on active duty and showing the 
        characterization of the person's service on active duty.
    ``(c) The Attorney General shall present a certificate of 
citizenship issued under this section as follows:
            ``(1) For a person who is a member of the Armed Forces of 
        the United States serving on active duty, the Attorney General 
        shall expeditiously forward the certificate to the Secretary 
        concerned for presentation to the person in such manner as the 
        Secretary may direct.
            ``(2) For a person not covered by paragraph (1), the 
        Attorney General shall present the certificate to the 
        person.''.
    ``(d) For purposes of this section, the term `Secretary concerned' 
has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 10, United 
States Code.''.
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