US Citizenship Podcast

Invitation: Help Shape the USCIS Online Experience for Green Card Applications emailed Jan 9, 2020 from [email protected]

We want to hear from petitioners, applicants and representatives to gather feedback on their filing experiences for Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and related forms.

Who can participate

To participate, you must:

Be at least 18 years old; Be preparing to file, or have filed within the last 12 months, at least one of the following forms: I-485, the (family-based) Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status I-130, Petition for Alien Relative I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant I-131, Application for Travel Document I-765, Application for Employment Authorization Participation is voluntary and will not affect the outcome of any pending case you may have. We will not request any case-specific information as part of this study.

How to participate

Please send an email to [email protected] with a subject line of "I-485 Feedback Session" and include the following:

Your role (petitioner, applicant or representative) A brief description of your experience with Form I-485 including whether you filed with dependents We will randomly select participants who meet the criteria listed above for a one-hour session where we will ask for feedback on proposed designs.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you!

Hi. this is Teacher Jennifer with a quick preview of three major events for those preparing for US Citizenship in 2020.

The first major event is the 2020 U.S. Census.

April 1 is National Census Day.

In mid-march, households will receive a form to participate in the 2020 Census. There are three options for responding: online, by mail, or by phone. The printed Census form is available in 12 non-English languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese)There are also 59 non-English language guides that explain the Census form in your language.

It is very important that you respond to the Census. The information that you give is private. This information can change the number of our representatives in Congress and the money needed for our schools, roads, and social services.

In May 2020: The Census Bureau begins following up with households that have not responded. December 2020: The Census Bureau delivers Census count to the president.

The second major event is related to Civics and voting.

In January, America will begin a year-long celebration of 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote. Local civics groups will mark the anniversary with voting drives in preparation for the November presidential election.

From February to June, each state will hold a primary election or caucus to choose candidates for the Democratic, Republican, and third-party parties.

In July, the Democrats will hold their presidential nominating convention and the Republicans will hold theirs in August. In September and October, the presidential candidates will meet for three debates.

On Tuesday, November 3, U.S. citizens will vote in the the 2020 United States presidential election. On this date, people will also vote for federal, state, and local officials and on proposed laws.

The third major event is related to Citizenship.

The processing fees related to Citizenship and immigration forms will increase. For example, the fee for form N-400 Application for Naturalization will increase from $725 (including $640 for processing and $85 for biometrics services) to approximately $1200. Most fee-reduction petitions will no longer be accepted. The requirements for fee-waivers have been increased. No date for USCIS fee increase has been announced yet.

Also, in late 2020 or early 2021, USCIS will release a new set of 100 Civics and History questions. Before USCIS releases the new set of questions, USCIS will travel to many Citizenship Preparation classes. USCIS will test the questions for appropriate language level and civics content. After the new 100 questions are released, there will also be a transition period during which new citizens can be asked the old or new questions.

Don't worry! You will have time to prepare.

• Study a little English, civics, and history every day.
• Save a little bit more for the new USCIS fees every week.
• In mid-March, complete the Census--those questions are like the questions on the first part of the N-400.
• As we get closer to November, pay attention to the news, especially the 2020 Elections. That will really help you get ready for the new 100 Civics and History questions.
• And check back with USCIS.gov and uscitizenpod.com for the latest Citizenship news.

Step Up to 2020: New Year, New U.S. Citizen!

Van's interview is based on:

• A "Regular" Citizenship Interview Based on the USCIS N-400r (6 pgs, 75 questions) (updated 10/01/2016)
• • pdf: http://goo.gl/Q5BhXk
  • ppt: https://goo.gl/GUfiKY
  • vocab pdf: https://goo.gl/PsDrG9

All Saints and Day of the Dead are part of a 3-day festival that remembers the lives of those who passed before us.

We honor the following list of Americans who passed before us:

Nov 30, 2018--George Herbert Walker Bush, 43rd president

Dec 8, 2018-- Rosanell Eaton, voting rights activist

Feb 7, 2019--John David Dingell Jr. , US Representative (MI)

May 4, 2019-- Rachel Held Evans, religious author

May 19, 2019--Nativo Lopez-Vigil, immigrant rights activist

July 16, 2019--John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court justice

Aug 5, 2019--Toni Morrison, author

Sept 17, 2019--"Cokie" Roberts, political reporter

Oct 17, 2019--Elijah Cummings, U.S. Representatives (MD)

Oct 27, 2019--John Conyers, U.S. Representatives (MI)

Remember all those who died trying to escape violence and live in freedom.

Citizenship Quiz for All Saints and Day of the Dead 2019 read: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/citz-day-of-the-dead-2019.pdf

Citizenship Resources for Halloween, All Saints, and Day of the Dead http://www.uscitizenpod.com/2019/10/citizenship-resources-for-halloween-all.html

1. USCIS updated Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, by removing receipt of a means-tested benefit to establish eligibility.

2. Individuals may still request a fee waiver if their documented annual household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or they demonstrate financial hardship.

3. The new policy is effective on Dec. 2.

Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver https://www.uscis.gov/i-912

Additional Information on Filing a Fee Waiver https://www.uscis.gov/feewaiver

Eligibility https://www.uscis.gov/feewaiver#Eligibility

What is a means-tested benefit? https://www.uscis.gov/feewaiver#meanstested

How to show you are currently receiving a means-tested benefit https://www.uscis.gov/feewaiver#meanstested

Federal Poverty Guidelines https://www.uscis.gov/i-912p

Financial Hardship https://www.uscis.gov/feewaiver#financial_hardship

How requesting a fee waiver affects your current immigration status https://www.uscis.gov/feewaiver#status

uscitizenpod: USCIS Updates Fee Waiver Requirements (subtitled video of this podcast episode) Video posted October 28, 2019. http://bit.ly/I-912-2019

uscitizenpod: The USCIS N-400 and Fee Waivers (includes Fee Reduction) Video posted January 13, 2018. Available at http://bit.ly/I-912-2018

10/25/2019 USCIS Press Release I-912 Revised Criteria Provides Clarity for Demonstrating Eligibility https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-updates-fee-waiver-requirements

WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has revised Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, by removing the means-tested benefit criteria that was previously used as a factor in determining whether an applicant was exempt from paying for filing fees or biometric services. Individuals may still request a fee waiver if their documented annual household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or they demonstrate financial hardship.

A means-tested benefit is a public benefit—offered by federal, state, or local agencies—for which eligibility and amount considerations are based on a person's income and resources. USCIS formerly considered Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and Supplemental Security Income during eligibility evaluations.

USCIS has determined that receiving a means-based benefit is not an appropriate criteria in reviewing fee-waiver requests because income levels used to decide local assistance eligibility vary greatly from state to state.

"USCIS relies on fees to cover the costs of adjudicating applications and petitions, implementing operational efforts, and ensuring the nation's lawful immigration system is properly administered," said USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli. "USCIS waives hundreds of millions of dollars in fees annually. The revised fee waiver process will improve the integrity of the program and the quality and consistency of fee waiver approvals going forward. Providing clear direction to agency adjudicators for more uniform determinations will help us to uphold our mission of efficiently and fairly adjudicating immigration requests."

USCIS has estimated that the annual dollar amount of fee waivers increased from around $344.3 million in fiscal year 2016 to $367.9 million in FY 2017. In FY 2018, the estimated annual dollar amount of fee waivers USCIS granted was $293.5 million. Fee revenues account for more than 95% of the USCIS budget.

Under the revised criteria, individuals may still request a fee waiver if:

Their documented annual household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines; or They demonstrate financial hardship.

However, USCIS will require applicants to complete Form I-912 and submit supporting documentation, including federal income tax transcripts. USCIS will not accept a letter stating the applicant is unable to afford filing fees or biometric services without a completed Form I-912.

As of Dec. 2, those seeking a fee waiver must submit the 10/24/19 version of this form to request a waiver of a required fee for immigration benefits. After Dec. 2, USCIS will reject any Form I-912 with an edition date of 03/13/18 or earlier, a fee waiver request submitted with a letter, or documentation of receipt of means-tested benefit to show eligibility for a fee waiver. USCIS will adjudicate any fee waiver request postmarked before Dec. 2 under the previous policy, AFM 10.9, Waiver of Fees.

The new form does not change the applications and petitions that are eligible for a fee waiver. For the list of eligible applications and petitions, see the Form I-912 Instructions. In addition, USCIS has updated policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to accompany this form revision. The updated policy guidance is effective on Dec. 2.

For more information on USCIS and our programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), Instagram (/uscis), YouTube (/uscis), Facebook (/uscis), and LinkedIn (/uscis).

The new edition of the USCIS Form N-400 Application for Naturalization is dated 09/17/19. It expires 09/30/2022.

There are only two changes to the N-400 (09/17/19)

1) The expiration date (09/30/2022).

2) A dynamic bar code encodes info as the N-400 is filled out online. This bar code does not appear on the print copy.

The updated N-400 (09/17/19) questions are the same as the old N-400 (12/23/16).

The late 2018--early 2019 proposed questions were not adopted by the updated N-400 (09/17/19).

These questions were possibly disregarded after an extended period of discussion with legal experts and stake holders.

You can watch a subtitles version of this podcast:

Update to USCIS Form N-400 Application for Naturalization https://youtu.be/nwSm-tXGvWg posted Oct 22, 2019

This video is a correction to the following video:

Preview of the Revised USCIS N-400 Application for Naturalization (March 2019) https://youtu.be/jMWCwr4EIc4 posted Feb 8, 2019

US Citizenship Bootcamp Interview 2 Ten N-400 Questions & Five Civics Questions

Use US Citizenship Bootcamp to work your way up to the US Citizenship Interview!

Vocabulary Words: Date of Birth Country of Birth Address Work Children Arrested Independence Day State Capital U.S. Capital

You can order US Citizenship Bootcamp by Jennifer Gagliardi from any bookstore or library.

Free Resources to Study U.S. Citizenship

USCIS Citizenship Resource Center https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship

Preparing for the Oath https://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/

USA Learns Citizenship https://www.usalearns.org/

US Citizenship Podcast https://www.uscitizenpod.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/uscitizenpod/

Your Local Public Libraries and Adult Schools

Five N-400 Questions and Five Civics Questions with Officer David

Use US Citizenship Bootcamp to work your way up to the US Citizenship Interview!

Vocabulary words Name Permanent Resident Citizen Married Month Year Constitution Vote President

You can order US Citizenship Bootcamp by Jennifer Gagliardi from any bookstore or library.

Free Resources to Study U.S. Citizenship

USCIS Citizenship Resource Center https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship

Preparing for the Oath https://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/

USA Learns Citizenship https://www.usalearns.org/

US Citizenship Podcast https://www.uscitizenpod.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/uscitizenpod/

Your Local Public Libraries and Adult Schools

Officer David is back to review the USCIS N-400 Part 12 Vocabulary. His review is based on the following quiz:

N-400 Part 12 Vocabulary Review (27 Questions) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/n-400r-12-overview-quiz.pdf http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/n-400-part-12-quiz-2.mp3 https://youtu.be/WPqZD1y7suQ

Also see

U.S. Citizenship N-400 Part 12 Quiz (20 Questions) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/n-400r-12-intro-quiz.pdf http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/part-12.mp3 https://youtu.be/ZDsTwhbLAEs

N-400 Basic Interview Quiz Part 12 (pictures) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/n-400r-basic-part-12.pdf

More videos:

Jothy Nair Reviews USCIS N-400 Part 12 Vocabulary https://youtu.be/jjeI4nWxOrI

Mr. Wang Practices the N-400 Part 12 https://youtu.be/yU16UGh2he0

A "Regular" Citizenship Interview (plus N-400 Part 12 Vocabulary Questions) https://youtu.be/_nvSEpNrD-w

A Quick Review of the Bill of Rights and the N-400 Part 12 plus Civics Questions video: https://youtu.be/Ih8cW8ByHdo pdf: https://goo.gl/XPCNgd

Citizenship Resources for Constitution and Citizenship Week http://bit.ly/USConstWeek19

Tip 1: Common Immigration Scams

• https://www.uscis.gov/avoid-scams/common-scams

Tip 2: Scam Alerts

• https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts
• https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/taxonomy/term/863

Tip 3: Notario Scams

• FTC.gov: How Myriam and Pedro Learned about Notario Scams (pdf)
  • https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/ files/articles/pdf/pdf-0203-fotonovela-notario-scams.pdf
• FTC.gov: Cómo se enteraron Myriam y Pedro de las estafas de notario (pdf)
  • https://www.consumidor.ftc.gov/ articulos/spdf-0203-estafas-de-notario.pdf

Tip 4: Resources to Avoid Immigration Scams

• www.uscis.gov/avoid-scams/resource-center

Tip 5: U.S. Government Website for Immigration Info

• U.S. Embassy and Consulate websites: http://www.usembassy.gov/
• Department of State, Consular Affairs travel website: http://travel.state.go
• vDepartment of State, Diversity Visa Lottery website: http://www.dvlottery.state.gov
• Department of Homeland Security (DHS): http://www.dhs.gov
• DHS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: http://www.uscis.gov
• DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov
• DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov
• Department of Labor: http://www.doleta.gov

Tip 6: Immigrate to the United States

• https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate.html
• https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry.html
• https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-instructions.html

Tip 7: Work or Study in the United States

• https://www.uscis.gov/working-us

Tip 8: Check My Case Status (and more tools)

• https://www.uscis.gov/tools
• https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do

Tip 9: Good, Low-cost Legal Aid

• https://www.justice.gov/eoir/list-pro-bono-legal-service-providers

Tip 10: Report a Scam

• https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Thanks for learning more about Immigration Scams!Have you been a victim of immigration fraud? Do you know about people who might be victims of fraud—or who are committing fraud? USCIS wants to make reporting suspected fraud easy. email: [email protected]

Watch all the videos in the uscitizenpod: Immigration Scams Playlist

• http://bit.ly/USscams

This video is available on YouTube:

10 Quick Tips About Immigration Scams https://youtu.be/67sIfSwuxBA