If you really want to be an American, there's a way to earn your passport. Don a gun, risk your life, wear a US uniform, and you might get lucky like the 50 immigrants who are going to be sworn in at a military neutralisation service at the George Bush Presidential Library in Texas on March 11.

They come from Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and they will all become US citizens by the end of the day.

Washington Foreign Press Center say in an advisory email:

"More than 37,000 immigrants are serving on active-duty with U.S. armed forces around the globe. Since "Operation Iraqi Freedom" was launched in March 2003, approximately 12,000 military personnel have been sworn-in as new US citizens. More than 14,000 military currently have pending applications for US citizenship."

Your application for US citizenship gets fast-tracked once you join the military. And ironically, it becomes an "automatic honour" if you are unfortunate enough to die.