by Natasha Khairullah
Staff Writer
At a time when citizenship is becoming a bigger and bigger concern, many refugees and immigrants in the United States are in line to become naturalized citizens. However, the road to naturalization is not a smooth one and between language barriers, the lack of educational materials for immigrants to study for the citizenship test and confusion about the process and its legalities, many individuals become discouraged and fail to apply correctly – or at all.
In an effort to provide assistance to immigrants and their families about to undergo the process, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and others are offering a series of free informative seminars titled “How to become a U.S. Citizen.”
The seminars will highlight some of the major areas immigrants tend to be least informed about, said Ericka Curran, an attorney with JALA’s Refugee & Immigration Project.
Those areas include travel stipulations, timeliness to begin the process early enough so as to not forfeit benefits, fees and when to seek an attorney as opposed to when to file on your own.
“I think that Congress thought that wouldn’t be a problem for refugees to become citizens within seven years since they’re eligible after five years of having their Green Card,” said Curran, referring to what’s officially known as a United States Permanent Resident Card.
Such is the case for Ashan Popal, a political refugee from Afghanistan who came to Jacksonville in 2000 as part of the Refugee & Immigration Project.
Popal became legally blind after being beaten by the Taliban as part of a political retaliation and as a result receives Social Security Income.
“Refugees are eligible for public benefits for seven years from the point they enter the United States. After that, they have to become a U.S. citizen if they want to continue receiving that money here in Jacksonville,” said Curran, who also serves as Popal’s attorney. “It takes immigration in Jacksonville about three months to actually schedule the ceremonies.”
Wednesday marks the anniversary of Popal’s seventh year in the United States and time is running out. He took his naturalization test April 30 and passed after failing it twice.
“In Mr. Popal’s case, not only is he legally blind, but it took him longer than most people to pass the test because there weren’t reading materials in his language that he could find so that he could study,” said Curran. “Therefore, he had to take it two times. He had to study really hard.”
Curran said the idea for the seminar came about after the local chapter of American Lawyers Immigration Association (AILA) approached JALA about some ideas for pro bono work. One of the ideas was to have AILA attorneys help JALA create presentations for the community on citizenship in order to raise awareness about the process as well as let people know where the problems lie — eligibility, the need for an attorney and when and how to file without an attorney.
“It is mainly geared for people who either themselves, or a family member, might like to naturalize. They are the target, but anyone in the community who wants to learn more about the process is welcome,” she said.
The seminars are Saturday from 1-2 p.m. at the Southeast Branch Library and May 22 from 6:30-7:30 at Webb Wesconnett Branch Library and include a 30-minute presentation followed by a 30-minute question and answer session.
The seminar will provide some information about the current naturalization test, how to prepare the naturalization packet if you’re going to file on your own and some issues to watch out for if you don’t have an attorney.
“Sometimes, there are various issues, for example, if a person has traveled outside of the United States for a length of time, it can affect their eligibility,” said Curran.
The fees, which currently cost $400, are scheduled to increase to $600 by the end of the summer.
“That’s one of the reasons for us doing this seminar, because we know that a lot of people, if they’re paying more in fees, they’re not going to be able to afford an attorney. Some people can file without a lawyer,” said Curran, adding JALA hopes the seminar will become an annual event.
With a growing immigrant population here in Jacksonville through projects like JALA’s, there is a need here just as much as other transient cities throughout Florida and the U.S., said Nancy Hale, director of JALA’s Refugee Immigration Project, which, since opening in 1999, has dealt specifically with legal issues faced by immigrants and refugees who can’t afford private attorneys.
“Our project specifically works with refugees and asylees and Cuban and Haitians entrances,” said Hale. “So our clients are certainly here along with the clients of other organizations with similar projects like Catholic Charities – which has its own legalization and refugee projects – and Lutheran Social Services.”
As for Popal, Curran said JALA has made a special request to Immigration that they try to fit him in the next ceremony on May 24 since he’s disabled and about to lose his only source of income. However, they have not received confirmation yet.
In the meantime, he’s keeping his fingers crossed.
“I’m so happy here. So, so happy,” he said. “I will wait.”
How much do you remember?
The following are Sample Civics questions from the United States Citizenship Test. The actual test consists of 96 questions.
1. What do the stars on the flag mean?
2. Who is the vice president of the United States today?*
3. Who elects the president of the United States
4. How many changes or amendments are there to the Constitution?*
5. What is the legislative branch of our government?
6. How many senators are there in Congress?
7. For how long do we elect each senator?
8. What is the Bill of Rights?
9. Who said, “Give me liberty or give me death”?
10. How many Supreme Court justices are there?
11. Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner?
12. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
13. What was the 50th state added to our Union (United States)?
14. What group has power to declare war?
15. What kind of government does the United States have?
Note: Answers to questions marked with asterisks will change.
See 'How did you do?' for the answers.