New Law Authorizes Waiver of Oath Requirement for Applicants with Certain Disabilities

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Naturalization and Citizenship

NEW LAW AUTHORIZES WAIVER OF OATH REQUIREMENT FOR APPLICANTS WITH CERTAIN DISABILITIES
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 14, No. 7, Nov. 28, 2000

President Bill Clinton has signed a new law that allows the attorney general to waive the requirement that naturalization applicants take an oath of allegiance if the applicant is unable to understand or to communicate an understanding of the oath's meaning because of a physical or developmental disability or a mental impairment. The new law fills a gap left by the 1994 amendments to the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Those amendments established waivers of the English language and civics requirements for persons with certain disabilities but did not waive the requirement that applicants take an oath renouncing their former citizenship and pledging allegiance to the United States.

The new law, which Clinton signed on Nov. 6, 2000, was necessary because the Immigration and Naturalization Service had taken the position that individuals eligible for the English language and civics waivers whose disabilities prevented them from taking a meaningful oath could not be naturalized. The new law applies to all persons who apply for naturalization, whether on, before, or after the law's date of enactment.

106 Pub. L. No. 448, 114 Stat. 1939 (Nov. 6, 2000).