Mannerfrid v. United States‪.‬

This case comes up upon appeal from an order denying the petition for naturalization of the petitioner, Mannerfrid. The ground of the denial was that, while he was in this country, he claimed exemption from military service and that by so doing he forfeited his right to become a citizen. Mannerfrid, a Swede, came to the United States as a business visitor in 1941, and obtained successive extensions of his time to remain as such until (by steps not relevant to this appeal) he was admitted as a permanent resident in April 1949. On March 5, 1943, he signed and filed with his Local Board an application for exemption from military service, a part of which was as follows: "I understand that the making of this application * * * will debar me from becoming a citizen of the United States." He married an American in 1949, and filed his petition for naturalization in 1951. As part of his application for exemption he had filed a letter addressed to the board, in which he said that he would "go back to Sweden * * * as soon as the war is over, and, as I do not intend to become an American citizen, my friend, Consul Hugo de Thamm, advised me to file above application. I also want to state that, if I would not have filed the application and joined the American forces, I would automatically have become a United States citizen, and as a United States citizen I would be a foreigner in my own country and as a foreigner I would not be allowed to control any Swedish company or own real estate without certain permissions. As I have quite a large holding of real estate in Sweden and am sole owner of Henrik Mannerfrid Aktiebolag, I thought it is the best to file the Application by Alien for Relief from Military Service. If Sweden should become involved into the war, the whole matter changes, and I should be obliged to be able to withdraw this application * * * and reconsider this question, after I have been advised by my Consulate here."