One in four Houston residents was born in another country. Of the children living in Greater Houston, 44% of them have at least one immigrant parent.
Most significantly for an election year, an estimated 300,000 Houston residents are eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship.
ILJ affiliate Justice for All Immigrants (JFAI)—serving Houston, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio—is working with Harris County and partners in the Naturalize Now, Houston! project to help eligible residents become U.S. citizens.
JFAI staff attorney Esther Oni regularly assists eligible clients with their citizenship and naturalization process.
“Most of the people I’m seeing have had green cards—that is, their lawful permanent resident cards—for years,” says Esther. “The fees have gone up to $760—although there is a $50 discount if they apply online—and that cost can be a deterrent for many.
“There’s also some misinformation about citizenship application requirements. For example, it’s not always true that a green card holder who traveled abroad for less than six months will have no issue meeting the residency requirements for their citizenship application,” she explains. “While the applicant may be able to satisfy the ‘continuous residency’ requirement because the trip was less than six months, they may not be able to satisfy the ‘physical presence’ or the ‘three months residence in a USCIS district or state’ requirements.”
Esther continues, “So, when a green card holder is ready to take the next step to U.S. citizenship, they should talk to an immigration lawyer who can evaluate their case for any red flags, especially if they’ve had their green card for many many years, have frequent long absences from the U.S. on their green card, or even have criminal records. They can also find out if they can pay as little as $0 for their application fee.”
JFAI regularly holds naturalization workshops with partner organizations, where candidates can request a fee waiver, get all their legal questions answered, and obtain help filling out the forms.
“We go over these with applicants who come to our citizenship workshops because the goal—if they’re able to apply—is that when they leave the workshop, they are ready to submit their application,” says Esther.
She also gives applicants strategies for studying for the citizenship test and will accompany her clients to the all-important citizenship interview.
“So it’s not just at the beginning, it’s all the way through,” she adds with satisfaction. “It’s been so rewarding to work with our clients and take that next important step with them.”
3,360 people are sworn in as U.S. citizens at Houston’s largest-ever naturalization ceremony this past June. Story: Click2Houston (Harris County Precinct 2 / Alonzo Guadarrama)