This doesn’t match my experience either, and I was in Israel shortly before I turned 18. I had a letter that showed I was enrolled at an American university and documentation that I’d been living in America; I went to some government office and told them I intended to stay in America; and they gave me a letter to show at the airport when I left. I don’t think I needed it.
Obviously things might have been different in 76, but nowadays they only draft you until 26. After 26 you could go live in Israel full time and you wouldn’t be drafted.
Well, sure - you had documentation. Other people might not.
I have a friend who made aliyah to Israel, but waited until he was older than the draft age to do so. I’m sure he was younger than 39. I don’t remember exactly, but I thought he was younger than 30. 26 sounds about right. This was in the 90s.
Wikipedia tells me UK ended conscription in 1960.
The way I’ve always understood it is that dual-citizenship just means that you hold citizenship from two different countries, but that you don’t actually have any special status in either one.
In other words, if you’re a US/Israeli citizen, Uncle Sam expects income tax, even if you work in Israel, because in his eyes, you’re an American citizen, full stop. Similarly, the Israeli government expects you to fulfill your reservist obligations, because you’re an Israeli citizen, full stop.
Put another way, neither country recognizes your other citizenship- as far as they’re concerned, you’re wholly one of theirs.
I had a friend in high school (class of 1991) who was a dual US/French citizen. When he turned 18, he got his French draft notice, and basically had a choice- go to French boot camp or renounce his French citizenship and stay in the US. He chose his American citizenship. There wasn’t really any option for him to just skip his French military obligation.
I thought that for military serivice most countries made a distinction between citizenship by birth and by inheritance - the warning I recall about Greece was that anyone born in Greece was at risk of being held for military service, but not people whose parents were Greek.
(OTOH there were stories during the Vietnam War that foreign residents of the USA - ie. students - were required to register for the draft too, if they had residency)
British conscription ended in 1961, or 1962, depending on whether you counted the last man in, or last out (they weren’t the same). Irrespective of this, there were many National Servicemen in hospital, or in detention barracks serving their sentences, who weren’t released until even later.
That’s probably very dependent on the specific country. AFAIK, Uncle Sam doesn’t care at all where you’re born, as long as you’re a citizen or have a green card- if you get your citizenship or green card the day before your 18th birthday, you’re on the hook to get drafted the very next day.
The brother in law of my childhood friend is from Mexico, was here on a green card and was drafted and served in Vietnam. He never bothered to get citizenship and never moved back to Mexico
All (male) green card holders between 18-25 are required to sign up for selective service within 30 days of arriving in the US. There is no draft but that’s still a requirement.
Obviously there was no draft but sometime after 2001 the government greatly streamlined the process to get citizenship for those who join the military. Not being a citizen does not exclude anyone from joining but it will most likely keep you from certain jobs that require a higher security clearance.
I don’t think the issue about where you are born has to do with people getting citizenship - I think it has to do with “I am born and have lived my entire life in Country A but I am a citizen of Country B from birth because my parent/grandparent is a citizen of Country B.” and I’m sure some countries make a distinction between that person and one who was born or ever lived in country B. *
Now, most of the time Country B is not even going to know that a person born in Country A is a citizen from birth of country B unless someone filled out some paperwork so it probably doesn’t matter much if the distinction is made or not.
*I can claim (not apply for) Italian citizenship but the last ancestors who set foot in Italy were my great-grandparents. And my cousin has been a US citizen since birth even though she was born in Iceland.
Possibly worse - my nephew declined to file papers for his Canadian citizenship (His mother was a naturalized Canadian before he was born, so he inherited the citizehship). He worked for the US military in a higher capacity, was worried claiming another additional citizenship would affect his security status. meanwhile, someone else I know was fairly high rank in the military despite being born in Canada.
A naturalized citizen can get a security clearance. They will look at your ties to foreign nationals but it won’t stop you from getting a clearance. Having citizenship elsewhere will most likely keep you from getting a clearance. I say most likely because there is a saying in the military “There’s a waiver for everything.” I’m not aware of a waiver but there might be. I know there is something called Limited Access Authorization (LAA) but that can only get you Secret access which isn’t very high.
According to the UK Parliament, conscription ended in 1960:
National Service ended in 1960, though periods of deferred service still had to be completed. The last national servicemen were discharged in 1963.
I would have thought that some of them would have liked the military enough to remain. There were Vietnam draftees still serving in the US military well into the 00s.
Thinking about it, now I wonder if they checked me because the name of the mathematician who invited me there might have been a red flag. I guess you could describe him as a Palestinian Jew. His family had lived for generations in Sfat, his native language was Arabic. His father had changed his name to an Israeli one, but he reverted to the original Arabic one. He strongly advocated turning the occupied territories over to the Palestinians. I wonder what he is doing now.
There are approximately 100,000 US military veterans alive today who are not citizens. The exact number is unknown. My current job is actually to work on behalf of noncitizens veterans seeking citizenship and/or VA benefits in southwest Texas.
True. But for the last 5 to 10 years it has been functionally impossible to join the US military without being at least a legal permanent resident (green card holder).
I know… my point wasn’t that we have a draft, it’s that if you’re a citizen or green card holder, you’re eligible the moment you turn 18, regardless of where you’re from/whatever other citizenships you may hold, because as far as Uncle Sam’s concerned, those don’t matter.