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Defense Department form, series DD, number 1278. Full title: DD Form 278, Department of Defense Certification of Overseas Assignment to Support Application to File Petition for Naturalization, May 2000. Function: Certificate of Oversea Assignment to Support Application to File Petition for Naturalization. Edition in force: not stated. Publisher status: not stated.
Issued under not stated, with not stated as proponent. A DD number marks a Department-wide instrument: the same blank form serves every military department and the defense agencies, rather than one service alone.
Users include uniformed members of any branch, DoD civilian employees, contractor personnel where authorized, and the administrative staff who process the completed record.
When the form is filed is a matter of not stated and local instruction. The description here covers the document itself and how to obtain a copy.
The download set covers PDF. Document length is 1 pages with about 18 entry fields.
The pdf is the primary distribution format. A fillable pdf accepts typed entries in defined field boxes and stores them in the file; a printable pdf is a flat image of the blank, meant for pen entry after printing. The distinction matters for legibility and for records that pass between offices.
What the form asks for
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
- Press space bar to mark X if person is the dependent spouse of the above named sponsor.
- Mark X if person is the adopted child of the sponsor.
- 2. From: agency, command or installation.
- 3. Certification. This is to certify that (sponsor's name: last, first, middle initial).
- of (organization name).
- is, or is being, assigned to (country).
- On or about (date: four digit year, two digit month, two digit day).
- Name of dependent spouse (last, first, middle initial).
- On or about (date - 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Name of adopted child (last, first, middle initial).
- On or about (date - 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 4. Issuing official. a. Typed name (last, first, middle initial).
- 4.b. Grade.
- 4.c. Title.
- 4.d. Signature.
- 4.e. Date signed (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
Order of completion: identification block first, substantive entries second, certification and signature last. The blank is laid out in that sequence and the sequence is not arbitrary — later entries often depend on data established in the header.
Verify the edition date against not stated before entry. Department-level revisions replace the blank across every service simultaneously, so an old copy in a desk drawer may no longer correspond to current field numbering.
Signature is manual ink on printed copies and digital where the receiving system accepts it. A typed name in a signature field is a name, not a signature. Common Access Card credentials support digital signature in pdf where the form and the reader permit.
Where personal information is collected, a Privacy Act Statement appears on or with the form. It names the collection authority, the purpose, the routine uses of the data and the consequence of withholding it. Reading it precedes filling the form.
Recurring errors: entry on a superseded edition, blanks left in mandatory fields, illegible handwriting on scanned copies, dates in a format other than the one the form specifies, missing signature or missing date beside the signature.
Instructions printed on the form or in not stated govern individual field entries. Where the two differ, the governing publication controls.
After completion, the copy goes to the office designated by not stated or by local procedure. Retention of a personal copy is ordinary practice and costs nothing.
Associated forms are traced by number within the series. Because the DD sequence is common to all military departments, no service qualifier is needed to identify a referenced form.
A DD number and a DA number may appear in the same instruction without being related. DA forms belong to the Army alone; DD forms belong to the Department and are administered at Department level. The sequences are independent.
Revision occurs when the prescribing directive is reissued, when the data collected changes, or when statutory notice language is amended. Verification of the edition date at download addresses all three.
This page distributes a published Department of Defense document and describes it. It is not a source of legal advice and makes no representation about acceptance of any completed form. Questions of applicability, eligibility or procedure belong to not stated, the servicing personnel office, or the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1278?
- DD Form 278, Department of Defense Certification of Overseas Assignment to Support Application to File Petition for Naturalization, May 2000
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?