Reply #5: To enlist in the U.S. armed forces, [View All]

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

an alien must have some sort of employment authorization or must be froma U.S. territory. In other words, you cannot be an illegal alien and enlist (unless you use fake documents and you don't get caught).

I know this from experience, when I was so desperate with my own immigration situation that I was a nanosecond away from taking the oath for the U.S. Army, but it was realized (at the very last moment) that I did not have an employment authorization document (I had an OPT for employment authorized to F-1 students) and so I was not allowed to take the oath and leave for basic, despite having incredibly high scores on the ASVBAT especially in languages.

My then-attorney did a lot of legal research on the matter, as did a JAG, and so I learned a lot about it.