Florida Immigrant Coalition commits to assist more Floridians in their pathway to citizenship
Miami – This morning the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a revision of the existing N-400 application and announced that the revised naturalization form is part of an ongoing effort known as the Forms Improvement Initiative. Now twice as long, increasing from 10 to 21 pages, the revised version of the N-400 form promises to be clearer and more comprehensive than the old version. However, the revised forms will now make the process incredibly tedious for millions of green card holders eligible for citizenship.
The Florida New Americans program, an initiative of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, plans to counteract the burdensome naturalization process by providing free citizenship clinics, in March and April, before the new form goes into effect in 90 days.
“With less than 10% of eligible Floridians applying for naturalization, this new form creates one more barrier for becoming a citizen. For the past 2 years, we have tried to encourage eligible immigrants to apply and become active citizens, but now this form is another hurdle in addition to the $675 fee,” said the Florida New Americans Program Manager, Krystina Francois from the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
