MAVNI Recruitment Pilot

MILITARY ACCESSIONS VITAL TO NATIONAL INTEREST (MAVNI)

The Secretary of Defense authorized the military services to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills

are considered to be vital to the national interest. Those holding critical skills – physicians, nurses,

and certain experts in language with associated cultural backgrounds – would be eligible. To

determine its value in enhancing military readiness, the limited pilot program will recruit up to 1,000

people, and will continue for a period of up to 12 months.

ELIGIBILITY

1. The applicant must be in one of the following categories at time of enlistment

a. asylee, refugee, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or

b. nonimmigrant categories E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, O, P, Q, R, S, T, TC, TD, TN, U, or V

2. The applicant must have been in valid status in one of those categories for at least two years

immediately prior to the enlistment date, but it does not have to be the same category as the

one held on the date of enlistment; and

3. An applicant who may be eligible on the basis of a nonimmigrant category at time of

enlistment (see 1b above) must not have had any single absence from the United States of

more than 90 days during the two year period immediately preceding the date of enlistment.

Health Care Professionals

Applicants must fill medical specialties where the service has a shortfall

 

criteria for foreign-trained DoD medical personnel recruited under other authorities

Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English

 

 

Enlisted Individuals with Special Language and Culture Backgrounds

Applicants must commit to at least 3 years of active duty, or six years in the Selected Reserve

Applicants must possess specific language and culture capabilities in a language critical to DoD

Applicants must demonstrate a language proficiency

Applicants must meet all existing enlistment eligibility criteria

(Services may add additional requirements)

 

-MORE

 

 

 

Languages

Albanian

Amharic

Arabic

Azerbaijani

Bengali

Burmese

Cambodian-Khmer

Chinese

Czech

Hausa

Hindi

Hungarian

Igbo

Indonesian

Korean

Kurdish

Lao

Malay

Malayalam

Moro

Nepalese

Persian [Dari & Farsi]

Polish

Punjabi

Pushtu (aka Pashto)

Russian

Sindhi

Sinhalese

Somali

Swahili

Tamil

Turkish

Turkmen

Urdu

Yoruba

BACKGROUND

Non-citizens have served in the military since the Revolutionary War. The Lodge Act of 1950

permitted non-citizen Eastern Europeans to enlist between 1950 and 1959. Additionally, the United

States officially began recruiting Filipino nationals into the Navy in the late 1940s, when it signed the

Military Bases Agreement of 1947 allowing U.S. military bases in the Philippines. In total, over

35,000 Filipinos enlisted in the Navy through the program between 1952 and 1991.

Today, about 29,000 non-citizens serve in uniform, and about 8,000 legal permanent resident aliens

(green card holders) enlist each year. Law ensures that the sacrifice of non-citizens during a time of

national need is met with an opportunity for early citizenship, to recognize their contribution and

sacrifice.

In fact, today’s service members are eligible for expedited citizenship under a July 2002 Executive

Order, and the military services have worked closely with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration

Services (USCIS) to streamline citizenship processing for service members. Since Sept. 11, 2001,

nearly 43,000 members of the Armed Forces have attained their citizenship while serving this nation.