non american wanting to join the u.s army

silentrunner

New Member
i've always wanted to join the u.s army but the problem is im a british citizen i have some family there and my uncle in law was a paratrooper and he's told me all about his time in the army and it really got me thinking about joining more then before but is it possible for me to do soo ? it would be a great help if you lot could gimmie some info
 
You need green card to join US army and If you want to be a officer you need to be an American citizen. If I were you I'd stick with the British army. Brit army also pays better.
If I had a choice between Brit army and US army it would definitely be Brit army.
my humble opinion.
 
Can't Brits join Commonwealth Armies? Because Commonwealth citizens can join the British military.

Eh?

That's not right. We've got plenty of Brits in the Australian Army. They like it here because the pay is better and the weather is warmer.

Most are lateral transfers though.
 
Yeah, what I meant as citizens of certain Commonwealth countries could serve in either's militaries.
I've seen it happen, just how it happens, I'm not entirely sure.
If most are lateral transfers, does that mean that some can actually join directly as non-Australians without any military experience?
 
Well, you can't join the Australian Army if you aren't an Australian Citizen or a permanent resident, unless you have previous military experience.

But when it comes down to it, it is far easier for a British/NZ/Canadian to get permanent residence in Australia, and once you've got residency you need to serve either 90 days in the regular forces or 6 months in the Reserve to waive residency requirements.

Lateral transfers are when you transfer directly from one army to another. We seem to get a lot of British NCO's (especially SGT's) these days.
 
Yeah, what I meant as citizens of certain Commonwealth countries could serve in either's militaries.
I've seen it happen, just how it happens, I'm not entirely sure.
If most are lateral transfers, does that mean that some can actually join directly as non-Australians without any military experience?

I had guys in my unit who were ex UK who having moved here joined up, we also had a guy from PNG as well..... In fact I was always under the impression that as commonwealth citizens, we were entitled to enlist with any UK or CW force.....

@aussienick - just read your explanation, now I get how it's done.... and because these boys were ex services, that explains how they were in, despite holding their existing citizenship....
 
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I had guys in my unit who were ex UK who having moved here joined up, we also had a guy from PNG as well..... In fact I was always under the impression that as commonwealth citizens, we were entitled to enlist with any UK or CW force.....

@aussienick - just read your explanation, now I get how it's done.... and because these boys were ex services, that explains how they were in, despite holding their existing citizenship....

Yeah I didn't understand it fully until I actually went and checked it out with DIAC.
 
I considered moving to Australia a few years back simply to join the ADF. Turns out, it's damn near impossible for an American to do such a thing. Long story short, I'm still in the US Army.lol...It's funny how the grass always seems greener on the other side...
 
I considered moving to Australia a few years back simply to join the ADF. Turns out, it's damn near impossible for an American to do such a thing. Long story short, I'm still in the US Army.lol...It's funny how the grass always seems greener on the other side...

Mostly Brits, Kiwis, Pacific Islanders and the Irish move over to the ADF. I've never met an American in the ADF who wasn't on an exchange program.
 
I looked into the lateral transfer program a few years back but decided that it wasn't worth the trouble. They asked for a lot of paperwork and signatures that the RoK military would simply be mad to supply, not to mention intricate details of every training I had attended. That would never fly. Was talking to a recruiter at the time. I wasn't 100% or anything on it but when I found out about the lateral transfer program I decided to take a look just in case.
 
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