The decision follows a unanimous vote today of the Legal Services Corp., which overturned a rule barring free legal aid to the estimated 40,000 Micronesians in the United States who do not have citizenship status.

There are about 12,000 Micronesians in Hawai'i alone.

The Legal Services Corp. is a federal agency that provides major funding to the Legal Aid Society.

Legal Aid attorneys were forced to stop helping Micronesians a decade ago, after the Legal Services Corp. made a rule change that befuddled many advocates for the poor. The board interpreted the Compact of Free Association with Micronesia as barring federal money from going to legal aid for Micronesians in the United States.

However, Micronesians in Micronesia were allowed to keep receiving help from Legal Aid Society offices there.

To get help in the United States, Micronesians would have to become naturalized, even though Micronesians can travel freely to the United States without a passport or visa.

Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i officials have estimated they turn away hundreds of Micronesians each year. If they broke the rule, the nonprofit would lose its federal funding, which accounts for one-third of its operating budget.