New Citizen Program

Amara’s Citizenship Story

With funding from the NCP, St. James Immigrant Assistance (SJIA) is able to provide no cost legal representation and individualized support to low-income lawful permanent residents seeking to become U.S. Citizens. Amara (not her real name) is a single mother of three children from West Africa living in Seattle. She has no other family in the U.S. and had recently escaped an abusive relationship. After trying and failing to pass the citizenship test on her own, she sought help SJIA. 
Amara needed assistance clarifying a complicated issue with her immigration history, and she needed significant support with her English in order to reach the level needed to pass the citizenship test. Amara had very limited opportunities for formal education in her birth country and was not able to read or write in her first language.

SJIA’s Legal Services and Citizenship Tutoring teams worked in tandem and tailored their services to support Amara’s specific needs, including working with her home country’s government to clarify a civil legal question that ensured there would be no confusion regarding Amara’s eligibility to naturalize. They provided extensive interview practice to help Amara prepare for all aspects of the citizenship test, including reading, writing, memorizing 100 civics questions, and answering questions from the citizenship application in English. The hours of interview practice coupled with a legal representative accompanying Amara to her interview helped her gain confidence and reduce her stress so that she could put her best abilities forward when she met with the immigration officer.

Amara successfully passed the citizenship test on her first try, fulfilling her dream of becoming a U.S. citizen to provide a more stable life for her and her children. Being able to overcome the obstacles on her path to citizenship also gave Amara confidence in herself and her ability to reach her goals for her and her family despite challenges. 
 

Soraya’s Citizenship Story 

In Soraya's home country when she was growing up girls couldn't go to school. Soraya and her husband came to the U.S. later in life. They found Literacy Source for help with citizenship and English. While Soraya’s husband was able to pass the naturalization test as soon as he was eligible to take it, Soraya’s lack of access to education for women and opportunities to learn English in her home country made preparing for the naturalization test very challenging. For the past six years, Soraya has been steadily working on her reading, writing, and English skills with help from Literacy Source. At one point she was taking classes twice a day four days a week and meeting a tutor twice a week on top of that. Almost every day that Literacy Source was open, Soraya was there! 

When Soraya was ready, Literacy Source’s legal representative prepared her citizenship application and accompanied her to her citizenship interview when the appointment came. She was very nervous during the interview, which led her to misunderstand several questions. She did not pass her interview that day. Though she was disappointed, she did not give up, and Literacy Source’s staff reassured her she would have another opportunity at a second interview appointment. Soraya continued studying in Literacy Source’s citizenship preparation classes and increased the number of days she worked with a tutor. When her second interview came a few months later, she passed the interview with flying colors. 

Though lack of access to education earlier in her life led to a long and difficult journey to pass the U.S. citizenship test, over the past six years of studying Soraya discovered that she loves learning and she continues to take classes to improve her English! Thanks to the support from Literacy Source through the New Citizen Program, she now has a U.S. passport to go with her books and can use her skills to exercise the rights and responsibilities of a U.S. citizen.

Ms. P’s Citizenship Story 

Ms. P came to the United States as a refugee from Cambodia in the 1980’s. Like many immigrants and refugees, she dreamed of becoming a U.S. citizen, but faced major challenges along the way. She spoke very little English and had a disability that affected her memory, making it difficult to study for the citizenship exam.

In 2022, Ms. P and her family turned to Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) for help. ACRS is one of ten trusted community organizations that make up the New Citizen Program (NCP), which is coordinated by the City of Seattle’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and funded by the City and State of Washington.

At ACRS, Ms. P was connected with a citizenship case manager who spoke her language and explained each step of the process. The case manager also shared an important option that Ms. P and her family didn’t know about: applying for a medical waiver that could exempt her from the testing requirements due to her disability.

For the next six months, her case manager worked closely with Ms. P, her family, and her doctor to gather the necessary documents and prepare for her citizenship interview. On the day of the interview, the case manager met them at the immigration office, went over final details, and served as Ms. P’s interpreter during the appointment. Even though the interview was challenging, Ms. P was ready, and thanks to the support of her case manager and the New Citizen Program, she passed. After 34 years in the U.S., Ms. P proudly became a citizen.

Her story is one of many made possible by the New Citizen Program. If you or someone you know needs help becoming a U.S. citizen, the program offers free help in multiple languages from organizations you can trust.