INA: ACT 319 - MARRIED PERSONS AND EMPLOYEES OF CERTAIN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Sec. 319. [8 U.S.C. 1430]

(a) Any person whose spouse is a citizen of the United States, 1/ or any person who obtained status as a lawful permanent resident by reason of his or her status as a spouse or child of a United States citizen who battered him or her or subjected him or her to extreme cruelty, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of this title except the provisions of paragraph (1) of section 316(a) if such person immediately preceding the date of filing his application for naturalization has resided continuously, after being lawfully admitted for permanent reside nce, within the United States for at least three years, and during the three years immediately preceding the date of filing his application has been living in marital union with the citizen spouse 1/ (except in the case of a person who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by a United States citizen spouse or parent), who has been a United States citizen during all of such period, and has been physically present in the United States for periods totaling at least half of that time and has resided within the State or the district of the Service in the United States in which the applicant filed his application for at least three months.

(b) Any person,

(1) whose spouse is

(A) a citizen of the United States,

(B) in the employment of the Government of the United States, or of an American institution of research recognized as such by the Attorney General, or of an American firm or corporation engaged in whole or in part in the development of foreign trade and commerce of the United States, or a subsidiary thereof, or of a public international organization in which the United States participates by treaty or statute, or is authorized to perform the ministerial or priestly functions of a religious denomin ation having a bona fide organization within the United States, or is engaged solely as a missionary by a religious denomination or by an interdenominational mission organization having a bona fide organization within the United States, and

(C) regularly stationed abroad in such employment, and

(2) who is in the United States at the time of naturalization, and

(3) who declares before the Attorney General in good faith an intention to take up residence within the United States immediately upon the termination of such employment abroad of the citizen spouse, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of the naturalization laws, except that no prior residence or specified period of physical presence within the United States or within a State or a district of the Service in the United States or proof thereof shall be required.

(c) Any person who

(1) is employed by a bona fide United States incorporated nonprofit organization which is principally engaged in conducting abroad through communications media the dissemination of information which significantly promotes United States interests abroad and which is recognized as such by the Attorney General, and

(2) has been so employed continuously for a period of not less than five years after a lawful admission for permanent residence, and

(3) who files his application for naturalization while so employed or within six months following the termination thereof, and

(4) who is in the United States at the time of naturalization, and

(5) who declares before the Attorney General in good faith an intention to take up residence within the United States immediately upon termination of such employment, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of this title except that no prior residence or specified period of physical presence within the United States or any State or district of the Service in the United States, or proof thereof, shall be required.

(d) Any person who is the surviving spouse, child, or parent 2/ of a United States citizen, whose citizen spouse, parent, or child 2/ dies during a period of honorable service in an active duty status in the Armed Forces of the United States and who, in the case of a surviving spouse, was living 2/ in marital union with the citizen spouse at the time of his death, may be naturalized upon compliance with all the requirements of this title except that no prior residence or specified physical presence within the United States, or within a State or a district of the Service in the United States shall be required. 2/ For purposes of this subsection, the terms “United States citizen” and “citizen spouse” include a person granted posthumous citizenship under section 329A .

(e) (1) 3/ In the case of a person lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States who is the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, is authorized to accompany such member and reside abroad with the member pursuant to the member's official orders, and is so accompanying and residing with the member in marital union, such residence and physical presence abroad shall be treated, for purposes of subsection (a) and section 316(a) , as residence and physical presence in--

(A) the United States; and

(B) any State or district of the Department of Homeland Security in the United States.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a spouse described in paragraph (1) shall be eligible for naturalization proceedings overseas pursuant to section 1701(d) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (Public Law 108-136; 8 U.S.C. 1443a).

FOOTNOTES FOR SECTION 319

INA: ACT 319 FN 1

FN 1 Language inserted by section 1503(e) of Public Law 106-386, dated October 28, 2000.

INA: ACT 319 FN 2

FN 2 Section 1703(f)(1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, Public Law 108-136 , dated November 24, 2003, added a new sentence at the end of paragraph (d) to read: “ For purposes of this subsection, the terms “United States citizen” and “citizen spouse” include a person granted posthumous citizenship under section 329A.

EFFECTIVE DATE- The amendment made by section 1703(f)(1) shall apply with respect to persons granted posthumous citizenship under section 329A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1440-1) due to death on or after September 11, 2001.

Section 1703(h) further amended paragraph (d) as follows:

(1) by inserting “, child, or parent” after “surviving spouse”;

(2) by inserting “, parent, or child” after “whose citizen spouse”; and

(3) by striking “who was living” and inserting “who, in the case of a surviving spouse, was living”.

INA: ACT 319 FN 3

FN 3 Section 674(a) of Public Law 110-181 , dated January 28, 2008, amended section 319 by adding a new subsection (e).

EFFECTIVE DATE: The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act (January 28, 2008) and apply to any application for naturalization or issuance of a certificate of citizenship pending on or after such date.