The Defense Department has now reinstated the “Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest” (MAVNI) that allows some individuals in temporary status in the US to join the armed services, including international students.

The reinstated program will run through May 16, 2014 under the same rules as the earlier program. Normally, to join the U.S. military you must be a permanent resident or U.S. citizen and nationals. Under MAVNI however, certain asylees, refugees, individuals with temporary Protected Status (TPS) and non- immigrants such as international students, can join the military and then immediately qualify for U.S. citizenship.

Automatic citizenship is available to any member of the U.S. military who services during a time of active hostilities. That rule applies to anyone in the military from September 11, 2001 to the present.

To enlist under MAVNI, the individual must be a needed health care professional or have a strategic foreign language skill. The enlistee also must have been in the United States legally for at least two years.
 

Health Care Professionals (mainly focused on doctors, nurses and dentists):

• Applicants must fill medical specialties where the service has a shortfall

• Applicants must meet all qualification criteria required for their medical specialty, and the

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

• Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English

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

Find more information about Health and Medicine courses in the US.

Enlisted Individuals with Special Language and Culture Backgrounds:

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

• Applicants must demonstrate language proficiency

• Applicants must meet all existing enlistment eligibility criteria

• Applicants must enlist for at least 4 years of active duty

Some of the sought-after languages are:

Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian-Khmer, Chinese, Czech, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Korean, Kurdish, Malay, Nepalese, Persian, Polish, Punjabi, Pushtu (aka Pashto), Russian, Swahili, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu.

Read more

Read the full note on NYDailyNews.com

Find out more information about this scheme in the U.S. Department of Defense website.