Citizenship through military service, decoded
Two statutes, one form your recruiter is not allowed to sign, a fee waiver worth $760, and a five-year window where a bad discharge can take your citizenship back. Here's the whole map, sourced to the government's own rulebook.
This is a map, not a lawyer. Immigration law is one of the few areas where a wrong assumption doesn't just cost you time — it can cost you your status. Every claim here is cited so you can hand the citation to someone qualified. Start with your installation legal assistance office or the Judge Advocate. USCIS also runs a Military Help Line at 877-CIS-4MIL (877-247-4645), Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–8 p.m. Eastern.
Nobody joins for the paperwork. But if you're not a citizen yet, the paperwork is the whole point — and the military is genuinely one of the fastest lawful routes to a US passport that exists. Since 1918, 817,991 service members have naturalized through military provisions, about 148,000 of them in the post-9/11 era (CRS R48163).
Here's the part that should make you sit up: DHS has said outright that some veterans never filed because they assumed the citizenship came with the uniform. It doesn't. DHS's own words are that it and DoD “are working to correct this misperception.” Translation: people have lost the benefit because nobody told them there was a form. So let's tell you about the form.
Two doors: INA §328 vs. §329
There are two military naturalization statutes. They look similar. They are not, and confusing them is the most common own-goal on this topic. §328 is the peacetime door — one year of honorable service. §329 is the wartime door, and because the post-9/11 period of hostilities is still open, it's the one nearly everyone serving today uses. It is dramatically wider.
| INA §328 (peacetime) | INA §329 (hostilities) | |
|---|---|---|
| Time in service | 1 year, cumulative | Any honorable service in the period |
| Minimum age | 18 | None |
| Green card required? | Yes, by the interview | No |
| Good moral character window | 5 years | 1 year |
| Continuous residence | Exempt while serving / within 6 months of discharge | Exempt, period |
| Physical presence | Same as above | Exempt, period |
| Filing fee | $0 | $0 |
| Multiple enlistments | EVERY separation must be honorable | ONE qualifying period is enough |
USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 12 Pt. I Ch. 2 and Ch. 3.
That last row decides real cases, and USCIS gives worked examples for both. Under §328, a service member with a clean 1980–84 hitch and an other-than-honorable separation in 1987 is not eligible — the bad second hitch poisons the good first one. Under §329, someone with honorable service 1975–78 and an OTH separation in 1980 is eligible, on the strength of the good period alone. Same two careers, opposite answers.
Is the post-9/11 window still open? Yes. USCIS lists the War on Terrorism period as “September 11, 2001 – Present” and says Executive Order 13269 stays a designated period “until the President issues a new Executive Order terminating the designation.” Previous periods have been closed before. Don't treat it as permanent — file.
Not reduced — zero. No fee for the N-400 under §328 or §329, none for the N-336 if you're denied and want a hearing, none for the N-600. A civilian filing the same N-400 pays $760 by paper or $710 online. Congress zeroed it out for military applicants in the FY2004 NDAA. If someone offers to file it for you for money, understand what you're buying — legal help can be worth real money, but the government's price is nothing.
The form your recruiter can't sign
Form N-426 is where your branch certifies to USCIS that your service is honorable. USCIS is blunt about who may sign it: “Recruiters cannot certify Form N-426.” It goes through your chain of command — most installations have a designated point of contact, often via the Judge Advocate or the community service center.
- The certifying official must sign no more than six months before you submit your N-400.
- Only currently serving applicants file an N-426. If you've separated, you send your DD-214 (Member-4 copy), NGB Form 22, or equivalent for all periods of service instead.
- There is currently no minimum time in service. CRS says the N-426 may be submitted “after one day of service.” The 2017 DoD policy that required basic plus 180 days was vacated by a federal court in 2020, rescinded in 2021, and the appeal dismissed as moot in Samma v. DoD (D.C. Cir., May 9, 2025). DoD told that court it is actively considering a replacement, so this is the one rule on this page most likely to change. Check before you rely on it.
USCIS Policy Manual Ch. 5; CRS R48163.
The discharge table is the whole test
| Characterization | Counts as "under honorable conditions"? |
|---|---|
| Honorable | Yes |
| General (Under Honorable Conditions) | Yes |
| Uncharacterized | NoOnly if issued on or before July 31, 2024 |
| Other Than Honorable | No |
| Bad Conduct | No |
| Dishonorable | No |
Uncharacterized discharges issued after August 1, 2024 no longer count. DoD updated DODI 1332.14 effective that date, and USCIS followed in a September 26, 2025 policy alert: only uncharacterized discharges issued on or before July 31, 2024 meet the “under honorable conditions” requirement. An uncharacterized discharge is what you get when you wash out early — an entry-level separation. It used to be survivable for naturalization purposes. It isn't anymore. If you're a noncitizen in your first 180 days, getting chaptered now costs you more than it costs the guy next to you, and nobody is going to say that at formation.
The five-year revocation window
This one deserves its own section because people do not know it exists. If your naturalization was granted on the basis of military service on or after November 24, 2003, it can be revoked if you're separated under other-than-honorable conditions before you've served honorably for periods totaling at least five years. USCIS's own footnote: such cases “should be referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
Authority: INA §328(f), §329(c), and §340, added by Pub. L. 108-136 (Policy Manual Ch. 7). So the timeline that actually governs your life is: day one of service, you may file. At naturalization, you're a citizen. Until five years of aggregate honorable service, an OTH separation puts that at legal risk. After five years, the military-specific hook is gone.
To be precise about what this is and isn't: it's a statutory basis for revocation, referred to ICE. It is not automatic and it is not deportation tomorrow. But it's real, it's written down, and it means the five years after your oath are not a victory lap. Nobody is going to put that on a whiteboard for you. Put it on your own.
Spouses and kids
Your family is not naturalized by your application — they have separate paths. INA §319(b) gives an LPR spouse of a citizen service member stationed abroad an expedited route, but the interview and oath must happen inside the United States. INA §319(e) instead lets a qualifying spouse count time abroad on official orders toward residence and physical presence, and finish the whole process overseas. Children who are LPRs living in the US with a citizen parent generally acquire citizenship automatically under INA §320 (file N-600 for the certificate); children abroad on a parent's orders use INA §322 and Form N-600K — and must take the oath before turning 18. Step-children are excluded. Get the orders documentation right; it quietly kills more of these applications than anything else.
Order of operations
Quick answers
Verified 2026-08-18 against the USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 12, Part I (current as of August 12, 2026) and CRS Report R48163 (May 13, 2026). Immigration law moves — re-check before you file. This page is information, not legal advice.