US Army offers citizenship track for needed skills
Immigrants with language, medical specialties get on fast track to US citizenship with Army
In this Jan. 24, 2013 photo, Army Sgt. Keawanyda Speaks, left, helps recruit Carolyne Chelulei, fill out documents while visiting the Army recruiting office in Spartanburg, S.C. Chelulei is a native of Kenya, plans to join the Army to train as a psychiatrists’ assistant. Serving in the Army in a medical specialty allows the 23-year-old to get on a fast track to U.S. citizenship. ( AP Photo/Susanne M. Schafer)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- While Congress debates immigration policy, the Army is offering a fast path to U.S. citizenship for some legal immigrants if they can fill certain critical jobs.
One of them is 23-year-old Carolyne Chelulei (cheh-LU-lei) from Kenya, who went to the University of South Carolina Upstate on a student visa and joined the Army as a medical worker.
She is one of several hundred immigrants with temporary visas whose specialized skills make them eligible for a Pentagon program that repays service in uniform with an accelerated path to citizenship.
The Army began the program on a trial basis in 2009. Maj. Carol Stahl, the program's manager, said it reopened in September 2012 and since then has enlisted 451 linguists with 28 different languages, 19 dentists and three physicians.
