[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 8, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2010]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 8CFR1337.1]

[Page 1149-1150]
 
                     TITLE 8--ALIENS AND NATIONALITY
 
   CHAPTER V--EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, DEPARTMENT OF 
                                 JUSTICE
 
PART 1337_OATH OF ALLEGIANCE--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1337.1  Oath of allegiance.

Sec.
1337.1 Oath of allegiance.
1337.2 Oath administered by the Immigration and Naturalization Service 
          or an Immigration Judge.
1337.3 Expedited administration of oath of allegiance.
1337.4 When requests for change of name granted.
1337.5-1337.6 [Reserved]
1337.7 Information and assignment of individuals under exclusive 
          jurisdiction.
1337.8 Oath administered by the courts.
1337.9 Effective date of naturalization.
1337.10 Failure to appear for oath administration ceremony.

    Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1103, 1443, 1448; 8 CFR part 2.

    Source: Duplicated from part 337 at 68 FR 9845, Feb. 28, 2003.

    Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to part 1337 appear at 68 FR 
9846, Feb. 28, 2003, and 68 FR 10360, Mar. 5, 2003.


    (a) Form of oath. Except as otherwise provided in the Act and after 
receiving notice from the district director that such applicant is 
eligible for naturalization pursuant to Sec. 335.3 of 8 CFR chapter I, 
an applicant for naturalization shall, before being admitted to 
citizenship, take in a public ceremony held within the United States the 
following oath of allegiance, to a copy of which the applicant shall 
affix his or her signature:

    I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce 
and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, 
state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject 
or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of 
the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; 
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear 
arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I 
will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United 
States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national 
importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I 
take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose 
of evasion; so help me God.

    (b) Alteration of form of oath; affirmation in lieu of oath. In 
those cases in which a petitioner or applicant for naturalization is 
exempt from taking the oath prescribed in paragraph (a) of this section 
in its entirety, the inapplicable clauses shall be deleted and the oath 
shall be taken in such altered form. When a petitioner or applicant for 
naturalization, by reason of religious training and belief (or 
individual interpretation thereof), or for other reasons of good 
conscience, cannot take the oath prescribed in paragraph (a) of this 
section with the words ``on oath'' and ``so help me God'' included, the 
words ``and solemnly affirm'' shall be substituted for the words ``on 
oath,'' the words ``so help me God'' shall be deleted, and the oath 
shall be taken in such modified form. Any reference to

[[Page 1150]]

`oath of allegiance' in 8 CFR chapter I is understood to mean equally 
`affirmation of allegiance' as described in this paragraph.
    (c) Obligations of oath. A petitioner or applicant for 
naturalization shall, before being naturalized, establish that it is his 
or her intention, in good faith, to assume and discharge the obligations 
of the oath of allegiance, and that his or her attitude toward the 
Constitution and laws of the United States renders him or her capable of 
fulfilling the obligations of such oath.
    (d) Renunciation of title or order of nobility. A petitioner or 
applicant for naturalization who has borne any hereditary title or has 
been of any of the orders of nobility in any foreign state shall, in 
addition to taking the oath of allegiance prescribed in paragraph (a) of 
this section, make under oath or affirmation in public an express 
renunciation of such title or order of nobility, in the following form:
    (1) I further renounce the title of (give title or titles) which I 
have heretofore held; or
    (2) I further renounce the order of nobility (give the order of 
nobility) to which I have heretofore belonged.

[22 FR 9824, Dec. 6, 1957, as amended at 24 FR 2584, Apr. 3, 1959; 32 FR 
13756, Oct. 3, 1967; 56 FR 50499, Oct. 7, 1991]