USCIS Continues to Improve Access to Immigration Services
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services works tirelessly to uphold America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility and has made meaningful progress to improve accessibility to immigration benefits and services while working towards the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision for our nation’s immigration system, one that is based on trust, strength, inclusion, integrity, and accessibility. These announcements use existing authorities, but only Congress can fix our broken immigration system.
Keeping Families Together
On June 18, the Department of Homeland Security announced actions to promote family unity in the immigration process, consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to keeping families together.
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that beginning on Aug. 19, eligible spouses and children will be able to apply for this process to obtain legal status while remaining with their families.
Citizenship and Integration Grant Program
USCIS is providing new competitive funding opportunities under the Citizenship and Integration Grant Program, which provides citizenship preparation resources, support, and information to immigrants and immigrant-serving organizations. Since 2009, the program has awarded $155 million through 644 grants to organizations providing citizenship preparation services to more than 350,000 eligible immigrants in 41 states and the District of Columbia. New funding opportunities include:
On May 15, USCIS announced the opening of the application period for the CITA which provides funding and training to enable organizations to establish high-quality citizenship programs for aliens who qualify or will qualify based on eligibility criteria. This new funding opportunity is a technical assistance grant that will provide up to $2.6 million in Congressionally appropriated competitive funding to public or nonprofit organizations that have not received previous grant funding from USCIS.
Citizenship Instruction and Naturalization Application Services (CINAS)
On April 24, USCIS began accepting applications for up to $10 million in competitive funding through CINAS, which will provide funding for organizations who offer legal and informational services to prepare eligible immigrants by offering both citizenship instruction and naturalization application services, training, and Board of Immigration Appeals accreditation.
The total awards for these opportunities will be $12.6 million. USCIS is currently reviewing applications and the awardees will be announced in September, during Constitution Day and Citizenship Day/Constitution Week.
USCIS to You
USCIS is launching “USCIS to You,” a new initiative to bring immigration-related assistance into local communities, including remote or underserved areas for eligible aliens. This initiative will help break down existing barriers to accessing immigration services, such as long distances and a lack of public transportation to field offices, and inadequate legal, community, and financial support.
Facilitating Remote Access
USCIS is officially launching the Remote Access initiative as a continuation and expansion of our effort to provide services to customers who live in remote and/or underserved areas. Some barriers limiting access USCIS services include long distances to field offices; lack of public transportation; and/or lack of adequate access to legal, community, and financial support and information.
USCIS offers a combination of remote services based on the needs of different communities including benefit application interviews for legal permanent residents and other eligible individuals, video-facilitated N-400 interviews, appointments for in-person services, naturalization ceremonies, and outreach.
USCIS is committed to planning both routine and as-needed remote services in a variety of geographically diverse locations throughout the United States. The agency’s goal is to reach out to a minimum of four communities every quarter with anticipated travel in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, including locations in California, Kansas, Alaska, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Community Education and Partnerships
USCIS will conduct three focused engagements per quarter at public libraries, law school clinics, or events hosted by nongovernmental organizations throughout the country.
USCIS will partner with public libraries throughout the country, particularly in California and New York, located in areas that traditionally have larger immigrant populations, to offer engagements with the public on immigration benefits and services and provide a general overview of the USCIS Contact Center and direct customer services to attendees.
Many community organizations and social service providers offer citizenship classes and assistance with the naturalization process. Classes are often held in the evenings and on weekends. In many cases, these programs provide additional support and referral services as well. USCIS will provide support for these services when requested or identified.
USCIS also works with the Law School Community of Practice (LSCOP) which was established to encourage law schools and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to engage in naturalization-focused assistance especially in rural, isolated, and/or vulnerable communities. At LSCOP clinics, law schools pre-screen for naturalization eligibility. The LSCOP comprises 28 law schools and 8 NGOs. USCIS will work with law schools to provide information during engagements or at their clinics.
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