Results

The ILRC wrote this document to provide recommendations for changes to the Policy Manual that USCIS can immediately implement to rectify the previous administration’s policies, increase access to immigration benefits, and reduce backlogs.

In certain immigration cases, you may want to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Department of State (DOS), such as to try to find information about previous visa applications and passport records. This Practice Advisory will go over the DOS FOIA process in detail and provide practice tips for obtaining personal records from them, including best practices.

USCIS Naturalization processing was already delayed as long as 3-4 years in many jurisdictions before the pandemic and ensuing USCIS closures hit. Many thousands of applicants are waiting to complete the application process.

These flyers inform community members of the fact that it is very dangerous for any noncitizen, including a permanent resident, to discuss marijuana use with any official. This is true even if the person used marijuana in their own home and it was legal under the law of their state (because of medical or legalized marijuana state laws). Get legal counsel and get informed!

On March 16, 2021, ILRC and seven other coalition members of the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) Strategy Group submitted recommendations to the Administration and USCIS leadership for equitable implementation of LRIF. The group requested a meeting with the government to discuss these recommendations.

The last update to Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, was December 23, 2016.  U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) only accepts the current version of the form. The last major update to the N-400 was on February 4, 2014, when USCIS announced changes that doubled the length of the form. The increase in length stemmed in part from additional questions related to determinations about good moral character and national security. USCIS made additional changes in March 2016 and a new fee schedule went into effect in December 2016.

Every year, millions of people wait for Congress to advance a solution that would provide stability for undocumented persons and their families. The numbers left waiting and worrying without a pathway to citizenship, protection from deportation, or the ability to work under the Trump Administration has only increased with the limitations on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain countries.

 ILRC submitted this comment in response to the recent update to the USCIS Policy Manual, entitled “Naturalization Eligibility and Voter Registration Through a State’s Benefit Application Process,” issued May 27, 2021, and effective immediately. ILRC wrote to commend USCIS on the addition of this update, suggest edits to the wording of the false claim ground to better reflect the law and avoid unintended expansion of this already broad ground, and encourage USCIS to include similarly limiting language in Volume 8 regarding the false claim and unlawful voting grounds of inadmissibility.

It has always been important to screen naturalization applicants thoroughly to ensure that they are, in fact, eligible for naturalization, and to assess any potential issues that could cause them to denied or deported. While the laws governing how and when someone is eligible to naturalize and how and when someone is deportable have not changed, the importance of screening applicants has increased in light of the new NTA Memo. This packet is meant to assist practitioners in screening naturalization applicants for any issues that may cause them to be denied and deported. It includes a Red Flag Checklist, an Annotated Red Flag Checklist, a Guide for Legal Reviewers, and a Review Cheat Sheet for Workshops. 

In order to qualify for naturalization, lawful permanent residents must meet several residence and physical presence requirements that are often mistaken for one another and muddled together. Traveling outside of the United States can not only affect these requirements for naturalization, but they can cause United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) officials to find that a person abandoned their lawful permanent resident status, which can have severe consequences. In this practice advisory, we review these requirements in detail as well as the related issues surrounding abandonment of lawful permanent residence.

The ILRC submitted these recommended priorities to USCIS for improvements to the USCIS Policy Manual. This letter follows our list of USCIS Policy Manual recommendations provided to USCIS on September 2, 2021 (available here: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/ilrc_uscis_pm_suggestions.pdf). While every change we suggested is important, a few have become more urgent as they are needed immediately to prevent further erroneous denials of benefits to immigrants and unnecessary chilling effects. The following priorities were gathered after conversations with partners across the country, and in direct response to requests from immigration practitioners and community members who are seeing benefits denied in the meantime. Furthermore, these changes will help rectify the Trump administration’s policies, increase access to immigration benefits, and reduce backlogs.

This report provides a summary analysis of the ways that federal officials have consciously sought to politicize the naturalization process during the 2020 election year in what appears to be a novel form of voter suppression. The report also examines the potential impact of this novel form of voter suppression in closely watched states in the upcoming presidential election, and details immediate steps that federal officials can take to mitigate these harms, allowing tens of thousands of additional U.S. residents to become citizens in time to obtain the right to vote.

Written by Doug DiSalvo East Bay Citizenship Network May 1999

This practice advisory goes through all of the ways that an arrest or conviction for California driving under the influence (DUI) can affect an immigrant, and reviews possible changes to the law. It also will discuss reckless driving as an alternative to DUI.

In April, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) put out a request for public input regarding Identifying Barriers Across U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Benefits and Services. The ILRC has submitted these comments.

Males living in the United States between the ages of 18 and 26, including naturalization applicants, must register for the Selective Service. While failure to register for the Selective Service is not a statutory or regulatory bar, it may still stop a person from naturalizing. This practice advisory will look deeper into the Selective Service requirements, how USCIS will evaluate the case depending on the good moral character time period, and discuss possible strategies for overcoming a failure to register.

ILRC submitted this comment to commend USCIS on the recent update to the USCIS Policy Manual, entitled “Assisted Reproductive Technology and In-Wedlock Determinations for Immigration and Citizenship Purposes.” We applaud USCIS on this update and clarification, which was necessary to comport with evolving reproductive technology and address disparate treatment under previous guidance. The change will improve the fair interpretation of “wedlock” in acquisition of citizenship cases and help ensure access to citizenship for all who qualify.

This practice advisory provides an overview of ways to advocate with USCIS and DHS components for solutions to individual case problems and systemic issues.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are ramping up efforts to investigate U.S. citizens and pursue denaturalization cases. This will result in many U.S. citizens being denaturalized and losing their citizenship.  These efforts will have a chilling effect on the number of legal permanent residents applying for U.S. citizenship and will further burden a system that is already delayed in adjudicating and granting immigration benefits. This Practice Advisory reviews the present state of denaturalization and revocation of citizenship.  It thoroughly reviews the statutes and caselaw to date in denaturalization and revocation of citizenship. Practitioners handling these cases will find this Practice Advisory to be very useful when defending U.S. citizens who are under the threat of having their citizenship torn away from them.

ILRC

This packet is designed to help advocates prepare naturalization fee waiver applications. The packet includes information from USCIS and ILRC on how to complete and review a fee waiver application to accompany naturalization applications, the adjudication standards for fee waiver applications, and a sample completed fee waiver form.

Form N-648, the Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions, provides an opportunity for naturalization applicants who have a physical, developmental, or mental health disability to naturalize without meeting the English and/or civics requirements. On February 12, 2019, new USCIS policy guidance went into effect regarding Form N-648. Since August 12, 2019, USCIS only accepts the new edition of Form N-648, dated 5/23/19. Incorporating current guidance, these two practice advisories review the criteria for the N-648, address how medical providers can complete a successful N-648 for naturalization applicants, and cover procedural issues relating to completing and submitting Form N-648. The first practice advisory reviews the statutory and regulatory criteria for the disability exception. The second practice advisory describes how to complete Form N-648 in partnership with a medical professional, as well as the procedure for submitting the form.

Various pieces of legislation have been introduced in the US Congress in 2021 designed to provide immigration relief to certain members of the undocumented community.  In this resource, we provide a comparison of key provisions of some of these bills.  The ILRC applauds the leadership and organizing of immigrant communities who have bravely fought for years to ensure these proposals for relief are considered by Congress and that all members of our communities can live with dignity.  These bills are important steps forward in addressing the inequities in our immigration system, however the ILRC believes that legislative proposals should be fully inclusive so that individuals who have had contact with the criminal legal system are not disqualified for relief.      

In the past, denaturalization proceedings were rare and usually brought only against alleged war criminals and in other extreme cases. However, continuing their assault on immigrants, families, and communities of color, the Trump administration has increased resources dedicated to pursuing denaturalization in an effort to strip citizenship from naturalized citizens and there are concerns this number will continue to grow. This practice advisory will briefly describe these recent efforts to increase denaturalizations, the legal grounds and process for denaturalizing a citizen, and the consequences of denaturalization. 

On August 26, 2019, the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) published an interim final rule, effective immediately, with a request for public comments by October 25, 2019. ILRC posted a templated comment urging programs to send in their own responses.

On November 5, 2021, the ILRC participated in comments to USCIS with the Naturalization Working Group concerning proposed revisions to the N-648 form for Medical Certification for Disability Exception for naturalization applicants. The form revisions overall represent an improvement over prior versions by shortening the form and eliminating irrelevant questions. The comment also  urges USCIS to withdraw 2018 – 2020  changes to volume 12 of the USCIS policy manual that continue to unnecessarily limit eligibility for disability waiver  applicants.

USCIS attempted to drastically limit fee waiver availability and fee waiver standards through the 2020 fee rule. The agency also tried to limit fee waivers by changing the I-912 fee waiver form. For now, these attempted changes have been stopped by injunctions. Applicants can continue to apply for fee waivers based on the 2011 fee waiver guidance.