When Seaman Frederick Asare moved to the U.S. from Ghana in January to join his wife and daughter, he knew he wanted to become a citizen someday. Little did he expect that day would arrive a mere eight months later.
And yet, during his graduation from Cape May on Sept. 6, Asare was sworn in as a U.S. citizen along with two fellow Coast Guard recruits and two petty officers – all while Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan looked on. “It was amazing,” he said. “And to have it happen after such a short period is a dream come true.”
Asare is one of 140 recruits and 12 members of the Coast Guard who have benefitted from a service to naturalization program known as Operation Sentinel to Citizen. In its first year, the program has helped members from more than 53 different countries become U.S. citizens in exchange for military service. To be eligible, an individual must meet residency requirements and have served honorably for any period after September 11, 2001 – which can be as little as one day.
The program is spearheaded by Lt. Cmdr. Colin Fogarty, a Staff Judge Advocate. After transferring to Cape May in July 2023, Fogarty continued the work of his predecessor, Lt. Cmdr. Lindsay Sakal, to find a way to do the naturalization process there. With the help of legal technicians, Petty Officer 1st Class Jamie Yeoman, and Petty Officer 1st Class Claire Burlette, he soon got the necessary permissions and authorization in place. Then it was just a matter of determining who was eligible and assisting them with the paperwork.
“We did our first group eight weeks to the day after we were approved on September 15 of last year,” he said.
After that initial success, Fogarty expanded the program and got recruiters involved. “Now, recruiters collect all the necessary documents, prepare all the paperwork, and send it to us,” he said. “We’ve essentially outsourced it to them. But this is a great thing for recruiting.”
Fogarty figures the expedited naturalization processing probably takes 6 to 12 hours per recruit over the course of eight weeks.
Active-duty and reserve members can also seek assistance with their citizenship applications from any of the four Coast Guard training centers (TRACENS) in Cape May, Yorktown, Petaluma, or the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy.
It’s a great deal for members: Typically, Fogarty says, an attorney will charge between $7,200-$11,100 for citizenship attorney fees; the average cost is $9,150. He calculates that efforts at TRACEN Cape May have saved military members approximately $1,134,600.00.
Asare didn’t realize the naturalization program was available when he started talking to the Coast Guard. “I was only informed by my recruiter during my enlisting process into boot camp,” Asare said. “He guided me throughout the process until I was shipped to the training center.”
Asare was naturalized alongside fellow boot camp graduates, Seaman Reid Rashaad from Jamaica, and Seaman Alinyeg Silva from Brazil. Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Peapea from American Samoa, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Liam Karlsrud from Norway were also sworn in during the ceremony on Sept. 6.
Peapea said he got interested in a deployment to Bahrain that required U.S. citizenship and found out about the program while doing some research. “The Cape May legal team made my whole naturalization process quick and easy,” he said. “Instead of waiting eight months to have USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) review my case, the Cape May legal team expedited my case, cutting the wait time down to two weeks for an interview.”
Fogarty says he isn’t surprised by the popularity of the program. “I knew the hunger was out there,” he said. “The Coast Guard just had to feed it.” On Oct. 1, in fact, he sent an email reminder to all Coast Guard members still eligible for naturalization based on their military service with instructions on how to apply.
Under U.S. law, to become a citizen, you have to be a legal permanent resident (green card holder) for five years. Then it typically takes another 18 months to naturalize, Fogarty notes. When you come from the Coast Guard, you only have to be a lawful permanent resident for one minute. Then we get it done in eight weeks, and we do it for free,” he said. “If I were selling cars this way, my lot would be empty because I am making deals that no one else can.”
How to apply
To start the process for yourself or your family, complete U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Forms N-400 and N-426, which can be found here. Potential recruits should contact their Coast Guard Recruiting Office who will guide them through the process.
Active-duty personnel should contact (Citizenship@USCG.MIL or HQSPolicyandStandards@uscg.mil for assistance.
Reservists in an active status should contact Citizenship@USCG.MIL, HQS-SMB-CGPSC-RPM-1-STATUS@USCG.MIL or HQSPolicyandStandards@uscg.mil.
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