---
kind: "section"
citation: "8 U.S.C. § 1426"
title: "8"
title_heading: "Aliens and Nationality"
number: "1426"
heading: "Citizenship denied alien relieved of service in Armed Forces because of alienage"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/8/1426"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Immigration and Nationality"
  - "Subchapter III — Nationality and Naturalization"
  - "Part II — Nationality Through Naturalization"
---

# §1426. Citizenship denied alien relieved of service in Armed Forces because of alienage

- (a) **Permanent ineligibility—** Notwithstanding the provisions of section 405(b)[^1] but subject to [subsection (c)](#c), any [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3) who applies or has applied for exemption or discharge from training or [service](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-34) in the Armed Forces or in the [National](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-21) Security Training Corps of the [United States](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-38) on the ground that he is an [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3), and is or was relieved or discharged from such training or [service](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-34) on such ground, shall be permanently ineligible to become a citizen of the [United States](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-38).
- (b) **Conclusiveness of records—** The records of the Selective [Service](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-34) System or of the Department of Defense shall be conclusive as to whether an [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3) was relieved or discharged from such liability for training or [service](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-34) because he was an [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3).
- (c) **Service in armed forces of foreign country—** An [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3) shall not be ineligible for citizenship under this section or otherwise because of an exemption from training or [service](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-34) in the Armed Forces of the [United States](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-38) pursuant to the exercise of rights under a treaty, if before the time of the exercise of such rights the [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3) served in the Armed Forces of a foreign country of which the [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3) was a [national](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-21).

## Footnotes

[^1]: See References in Text note below.

## Source credit

(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title III, ch. 2, § 315, 66 Stat. 242; Pub. L. 100–525, § 9(v), Oct. 24, 1988, 102 Stat. 2621; Pub. L. 101–649, title IV, § 404, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 5039.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### References in Text

Section 405(b), referred to in subsec. (a), is section 405(b) of act June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title IV, 66 Stat. 280, which is set out as a Savings Clause note under section 1101 of this title.

### Amendments

1990—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–649, § 404(1), inserted “but subject to subsection (c)” after “section 405(b)”.

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–649, § 404(2), added subsec. (c).

1988—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100–525 substituted “Department of Defense” for “National Military Establishment”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1990 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 101–649 applicable to exemptions from training or service obtained before, on, or after Nov. 29, 1990, see section 408(e) of Pub. L. 101–649, set out as a note under section 1421 of this title.