Naturalization Guidance for Alien Service Members
A policy alert is USCIS guidance to its own officers, not a regulation. It governs how USCIS adjudicates, and it can be revised or withdrawn without rulemaking.
What the document says
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to explain why uncharacterized discharges no longer meet the requirement of a separation “under honorable conditions” for former alien service members to naturalize under Sections 328 and 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and to explain changes in process for former alien service members who had been receiving naturalization interviews and oath ceremony services at land ports of entry.
Who the document names
The document does not name specific countries or visa categories in its scope language. Read the original to confirm whether it applies to a particular case.
Explained
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About this record
- Source
- USCIS Policy Manual, checked Aug 2, 2026
- Review
- Classified automatically; not reviewed by a person
- The updates page does not publish an effective date. Where the guidance states one, it is in the linked document. This event does not assert an effective date it cannot cite.
- Affected Policy Manual sections, as listed by USCIS: 12 USCIS-PM I.1; 12 USCIS-PM I.2; 12 USCIS-PM I.3; 12 USCIS-PM I.5 (Citizenship and Naturalization).
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