8 U.S.C. § 1438
Section 1438 · Former citizens losing citizenship by entering armed forces of foreign countries during World War II
This is § 327 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case Nwozuzu v. Holder (2013)
Most recently applied in Monssef Cheneau v. Merrick Garland (May 2021)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Any person who, (1) during World War II and while a citizen of the United States, served in the military, air, or naval forces of any country at war with a country with which the United States was at war after December 7, 1941, and before September 2, 1945, and (2) has lost United States citizenship by reason of entering or serving in such forces, or taking an oath or obligation for the purpose of entering such forces, may, upon compliance with all the provisions of subchapter III of this chapter, except section 1427(a) of this title, and except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, be naturalized by taking before the Attorney General or before a court described in section 1421(b) of this title the oath required by section 1448 of this title. Certified copies of such oath shall be sent by such court to the Department of State and to the Department of Justice and by the Attorney General to the Secretary of State.
No person shall be naturalized under subsection (a) of this section unless he—
(1) is, and has been for a period of at least five years immediately preceding taking the oath required in subsection (a) of this section, a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States; and
(2) has been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence and intends to reside permanently in the United States.
Any person naturalized in accordance with the provisions of this section, or any person who was naturalized in accordance with the provisions of section 323 of the Nationality Act of 1940, shall have, from and after such naturalization, the status of a native-born, or naturalized, citizen of the United States, whichever status existed in the case of such person prior to the loss of citizenship: Provided, That nothing contained herein, or in any other provision of law, shall be construed as conferring United States citizenship retroactively upon any such person during any period in which such person was not a citizen.
For the purposes of this section, World War II shall be deemed to have begun on September 1, 1939, and to have terminated on September 2, 1945.
This section shall not apply to any person who during World War II served in the armed forces of a country while such country was at war with the United States
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Section 323 of the Nationality Act of 1940, referred to in subsec. (c), which was classified to section 723 of this title, was repealed by section 403(a)(42) of act June 27, 1952. See subsec. (a) of this section.
Amendments
1990—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–649 substituted “the Attorney General or before a court described in section 1421(b) of this title” for “any naturalization court specified in section 1421(a) of this title” and inserted “and by the Attorney General to the Secretary of State” before period at end.
Cross References
Definition of the term—
Lawfully admitted for permanent residence, see section 1101(a)(20) of this title.
Naturalization, see section 1101(a)(23) of this title.
Person of good moral character, see section 1101(f) of this title.
Residence, see section 1101(a)(33) of this title.
United States, see section 1101(a)(38) of this title.
Former citizens regaining citizenship, see section 1435 of this title.