Emilio T. Gonzalez, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, administered the oath of allegiance to the service members, including many who recently returned from the Middle East.

"On behalf of a grateful nation I want to congratulate you on becoming America's newest citizens," Gonzalez told 146 members of all branches of the military.

President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2002 making immigrants serving in the military since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks immediately eligible for naturalization. Before the order, immigrants in the military had to serve three years before they could apply to become citizens.

Since the attacks, the government has naturalized 24,745 military service members.

The people sworn in as new Americans on Wednesday hail from 50 countries, from Albania to Venezuela.

Sgt. Vasil Mencev became a citizen 31 years after he first came to the U.S. as an infant with his parents and sister. Shortly after they arrived, the family returned to Macedonia because Mencev's mother became terminally ill.

Mencev returned to the U.S. when he turned 20 and eventually joined the Army, spending a year in Iraq riding a fuel truck in convoys. He said he was fulfilling his parents' dreams.

"They came here to get a better future," Mencev said of his late parents.

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