JBA Immigration Section Chair Vanessa Newtson
National Citizenship Day is going to be celebrated nationwide April 17. Jacksonville is going to be a first-time participant this year and Florida Coastal School of Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic is hosting the event by bringing together volunteer attorneys, law school students and applicants from the community that meet the requirements for citizenship.
Citizenship Day 2010 will be held at the law school from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the atrium. Citizenship Day 2010 is one of the events under Law Day and is being co-sponsored by the Jacksonville Bar Association, Florida Coastal School of Law, AILA Central Florida Chapter (American Immigration Lawyers Association) and CVS pharmacy. Representatives from Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) will also be present and will lend their expertise to this event.
A training session for volunteer attorneys and law school students will be held at Florida Coastal School of Law April 8 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, in room 455. Immigration attorneys will be on hand to explain the eligibility requirements for naturalization, describe how to fill out the application for naturalization, and explain how to analyze the application in order to discern any possible red flags. This will provide a Pro Bono opportunity for attorneys and a great way to help the local community.
Attorneys will sign the petition as the preparer but will not be legally bound to represent the applicant in their immigration process.
Non-immigration attorneys are encouraged to attend in order to be prepared for Citizenship Day 2010.
On Citizenship Day 2010, the law school students will be helping the applicants fill out the application for naturalization and the volunteer attorneys will review the application and accompanying documentation for completeness and content. CVS will attend to provide reduced prices to applicants for the passport-style photos that must accompany the petition.
Applicants are being encouraged to attend an information session being held April 3 from 10 a.m. to noon, at Florida Coastal School of Law, room 550, in order to be best prepared for Citizenship Day 2010. The information session is not a requirement for applicants but will help them be more prepared for their application process. Those unable to attend the information session can register for this free workshop by contacting Rachel Beatty at 680-7782, or can e-mail their name, address and phone number to [email protected]. Bilingual attorneys will be available to help non-English speaking participants. If you have a friend, family member or client that you believe can benefit from this pro bono event, please guide them to this event’s official Web site: www.fcsl.edu/special/events/2010/aila.
Different community groups have been involved in getting the word out for this event, including Florida State College at Jacksonville, local churches and community centers. This will be a great benefit to our local residents that see the Application for Naturalization as a daunting task and are unable to seek the help of an attorney. Last year, twenty-five AILA chapters held “citizenship drives” at more than 65 different locations around the country.
More than 500 attorneys and 800 non-attorney volunteers assisted 1,900 clients with their citizenship applications. My family and I were naturalized and I still have fond memories of the naturalization ceremony and of how proud my family, and my parents in particular were in becoming United States Citizens. In my Immigration practice, I have helped countless clients through the naturalization process and have seen how receiving their citizenship has positively affected their lives. If you have further questions, please contact me at [email protected]. When you take a few hours out of your day on Saturday, April 17 to come out and volunteer, you will be making a great difference in someone’s life.