Tag: Application for Naturalization

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Citizenship, naturalization, and adopted children: The USCIS makes a clarification

Citizenship, naturalization, and adopted children: The USCIS makes a clarification
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The USCIS on April 21 announced an update on its policy manual to clarify guidance regarding the application of citizenship and naturalization provisions on adopted children.

This includes:

  • The requirements for adopted children to meet the definition of a child for citizenship and naturalization purposes, including having an adoption that is considered full, final, and complete for immigration purposes;
  • The eligibility for US citizenship for adopted children who reside in the United States and how to obtain a Certificate of Citizenship;
  • The eligibility for US citizenship for adopted children who reside outside of the United States and how to apply for citizenship and issuance of a certificate; and
  • The guidance on the acquisition of citizenship and naturalization when an adoption is disrupted or dissolved.

This update does not mean any change for the requirements for adopted children to become US citizens.

Need help with naturalization? Reach out to your trusted immigration lawyer.

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Upcoming Changes to “U.S. Citizenship Test”

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The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is set to change the naturalization test, which is more known as the “U.S. Citizenship Test.”

In a recent statement, the USCIS says it is about to conduct a trial for the new naturalization/citizenship test. The changes concern the speaking and civics portions of the exam. 

The reading and writing parts, which are the other two portions, will stay the same.

The edits under trial come after the USCIS received calls to standardize the test as judging applicants has been subjective when it comes to the speaking and civics test.

The speaking test will be “standardized” to reflect a “typical conversation.” 

Meanwhile, the civics test will no longer be in a fill-in-the-blank format. Instead, it will be a multiple-choice exam.

These edits will make it easier to pass the exam. 

This comes after the test was criticized for being too difficult. A survey found that 2 of 3 American citizens would flunk the exam. 

From these trials, the naturalization test will further be assessed and edited.

Until then, the USCIS welcomes comments from the public about the test. Just shoot an email to natzredesign22@uscis.dhs.gov.

For tips on naturalization and how to ace your citizenship test, reach out to a trusted immigration lawyer.

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2023 May Be A Good Year to Naturalize

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The Pew Research Center has shared a new study showing that naturalizations in the United States have risen at levels unseen as far back as 2008.

In 2022, more than 900,000 immigrants became US citizens. The last time it was this high was in 2008, when over a million became citizens.

This comes after two years of the pandemic, which caused a sharp drop in naturalizations, and an increase in backlogs.

Now three years into this pandemic, it could be observed that the Biden Administration started normalizing and streamlining immigration processes and has seen an increasing number of immigrant applicants applying and getting their citizenships.

Among the countries with the biggest rebound in naturalization is the Philippines, which only followed Cuba and Jamaica. This makes the Philippines the Asian country with the biggest rebound.

Another notable number is 670,000 – this is the number of naturalizations that are still pending, signaling that there are more citizenship ceremonies to come. 

This backlog is also seen to be reduced quickly as the Biden administration has put in place many improved processes like simplifying forms and redirecting the load of some immigration offices to those less overwhelmed.

According to Pew, the median time of processing a naturalization process now is around 10 months.

With the Biden administration continuously making background checks less strict and less discriminatory, it might be a good time to pursue naturalization.

For long-time residents with a long immigration history, it may be best, nonetheless, to seek advice or legal assistance from a trusted immigration lawyer before filing an application for naturalization.

(Atty. Lourdes S. Tancinco is an immigration attorney and immigrant rights advocate based in the San Francisco Bay area  and a partner at the Tancinco Law P.C.. She may be reached at law@tancinco.com, www.tancinco.com, facebook/tancincolaw, or at 1-888-930-0808)

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Biden’s Strategy On Promoting Naturalization

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In the past administration, a significant number of non-citizens were apprehensive about filing applications for naturalization because of restrictive immigration policies.  Even naturalized U.S. citizens were threatened with de-naturalization or having their U.S. citizenship taken away from them through a Trump denaturalization program that was then established within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

In a 180 degree change of direction the current Biden-Harris Administration is determined to promote naturalization among those eligible to file for naturalization and become U.S. citizens. It has taken steps to eliminate barriers to citizenship and restore faith in our nation’s legal immigration system.

On July 2, 2021, the USCIS released its Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization to promote naturalization through citizenship education and awareness and by building capacity and expanding partnerships with government agencies and community based organizations.

As part of this interagency strategy, a Naturalization Working Group was established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), State (DOS), Labor (DOL), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Defense (DOD), Justice (DOJ), Veterans Affairs (VA), Agriculture (USDA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Naturalization Working Group goals include:

  • Raising awareness of the importance of citizenship;
  • Promoting civic integration and inclusion;
  • Providing immigrants with opportunities and tools to become fully engaged citizens;
  • Building community capacity to prepare immigrants for citizenship;
  • Eliminating sources of fear and other barriers that prevent individuals from accessing available naturalization services; and
  • Advancing and ensuring equity throughout the citizenship and naturalization processes, including on the basis of race, disability, language access, national origin, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, and providing support to traditionally underserved communities.

This is a welcome development as a means of empowering the immigrants and restoring faith in the immigration system. While many will be encouraged to apply for naturalization as a result of this program, it will still be prudent for those with long immigration history  to take diligent steps to get their cases assessed for any possible consequences of filing for U.S. citizenship. Examples are those with prior criminal convictions, undisclosed prior marriages, continuous interrupted physical presence among other issues, who must consult with their trusted professional legal counsel before proceeding to file citizenship.

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No More Trump Era Citizenship Test: Back to the 2008 Civic Test

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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on February 22, 2021 that it will revert to the 2008 version of the naturalization civic test. 

The Trump-era citizenship test is lengthy and doubled the number of questions immigrants must answer correctly to pass. In keeping with President Biden’s executive order directing federal agencies to “restore faith” in the immigration system and make naturalization more accessible, the USCIS will administer the 2008 civic test instead. 

The civics test is administered to applicants who apply for U.S. citizenship through naturalization and is one of the statutory requirements for naturalizing. Applicants must demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history, principles, and form of government of the United States. The decision to naturalize demonstrates an investment in and commitment to this country. USCIS is committed to administering a test that is an instrument of civic learning and fosters civic integration as part of the test preparation process.

According to the USCIS, applicants who filed their application for naturalization on or after December 1, 2020, and before March 1, 2021, likely have been studying for the 2020 test; therefore, USCIS will give these applicants the option to take either the 2020 civics test or the 2008 civics test. There will be a transition period where both tests are being offered. The 2020 test will be phased out on April 19, 2021, for initial test takers. Applicants filing on or after March 1, 2021, will take the 2008 civics test.

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USCIS Announces Final Rule Adjusting Immigration Benefit Application and Petition Fees

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced a final rule published in the Federal Register today adjusting the fees required for most immigration applications and petitions. The new fees will be effective Dec. 23.

USCIS is almost entirely funded by the fees paid by applicants and petitioners for immigration benefits. The law requires USCIS to conduct fee reviews every two years to determine the funding levels necessary to administer the nation’s immigration laws, process benefit requests and provide the infrastructure needed to support those activities.

Fees will increase for the first time in six years, by a weighted average of 21 percent for most applications and petitions. This increase is necessary to recover the full cost of services provided by USCIS. These include the costs associated with fraud detection and national security, customer service and case processing, and providing services without charge to refugee and asylum applicants and to other customers eligible for fee waivers or exemptions.

The final rule contains a table summarizing current and new fees. The new fees will also be listed on the Our Fees page on our website. Form G-1055 will not reflect the new fees until the effective date. Applications and petitions postmarked or filed on or after Dec. 23 must include the new fees or USCIS will not be able to accept them.

“This is our first fee increase since November 2010, and we sincerely appreciate the valuable public input we received as we prepared this final rule,” said USCIS Director León Rodríguez. “We are mindful of the effect fee increases have on many of the customers we serve. That’s why we decided against raising fees as recommended after the fiscal year 2012 and 2014 fee reviews. However, as an agency dependent upon users’ fees to operate, these changes are now necessary to ensure we can continue to serve our customers effectively. We will also offer a reduced filing fee for certain naturalization applicants with limited means.”

Read more about the new fee schedule on the Our Fees page. Highlights follow:

  • A modest fee increase of $45, or 8 percent, from $595 to $640 for Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.
    • USCIS will offer a reduced filing fee of $320 for naturalization applicants with family incomes greater than 150 percent and not more than 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For 2016, this means, for example, that a household of four with an income between $36,000 and $48,600 per year could pay the reduced fee. Those eligible may apply for this option using the new Form I-942, Request for Reduced Fee.
  • The fee for Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship, and N-600K, Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322, will increase from $550 or 600 to $1,170.
  • A new fee of $3,035 is required for Form I-924A, Annual Certification of Regional Center.
    In preparing the final rule, USCIS considered all 436 comments received during the 60-day public comment period for the proposed rule published May 4.
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New Version of Form N-400, Application for Naturalization is announced by USCIS.

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USCIS revised Form N-400, Application for Naturalization on April 13, 2016. The revised version is accessible at uscis.gov/n-400. August 9, 2016 is the last date to use the 9/13/13 form edition, if any forms submitted after August 10, 2016, it will be discarded and previous versions of Form N-400 submitted will be returned.

Eligibility Requirements

The eligibility requirement for naturalization remains the same. Visit uscis.gov/n-400 to get the information on how to complete the form, and where eligibility requirements can be found.

Revised Form Changes:

  • Removed the bar code
  • Streamlined the application process for the customer
  • Identified evidence

 

Instructions to complete the Revised Form N-400:

  • Access the revised form uscis.gov/n-400.
  • Complete it electronically, then print, sign and mail it to the USCIS Lockbox listed in the instructions. Please comprise supporting papers and the correct fee.
  • If you are unable to fill out Form N-400 electronically, you may print it, or request a paper form by calling the Forms Request Line at 800-870-3676.
  • You must complete the paper form in black ink. You may also get forms and information by calling the USCIS National Customer Service Centre at 800-375-5283