US Citizenship Podcast

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

Love and Citizenship from the Heart of California: an US Citizenship Interview with Rene Smith ESL/Citizenship Instructor Madera Adult School https://www.madera.k12.ca.us/Page/4134

Teacher Jennifer does a practice US Citizenship interview with Teacher Rene (Madera Adult School), then Rene about her own experience about becoming a US citizen and preparing students to become US Citizens.

For more info about Adult Education, see:

California Adult Education (California) https://caladulted.org/

Educate and Elevate (USA)

https://educateandelevate.org/

I would like to make a few comments about the new USCIS "public charge" rule before I read the rule's summary and full text.

A "public charge" is a person who depends on the government to pay for his or her food, clothing, housing, healthcare, and more. The new USCIS "public charge" rule says that an immigrant to the United States must be able to financially support his- or herself. If a person cannot support his- or herself, then he or she will not be allowed to legally enter the United States.

I want to emphasize that new "public charge" rule affects people who want to get a Green Card and become Legal Permanent Residents.

The "public charge" rule does not directly affect people who are legal permanent residents.

Although the "public charge" rule is not about legal permanent residents who are preparing for their citizenship interview, they should be prepared to answer extra questions about their financial status if they submitted a I-912 Fee Waiver Form or an I-942 Fee Reduction Form with their N-400 Application for Naturalization which USCIS plans to update on Oct 15, 2019 to reflect the changes of the new "public charge" rule.

I want to talk a little bit more about the indirect impact of the "public charge" rule on the citizenship interview.

The current administration is particularly concerned about immigrants ability to financially support themselves.

During the Citizenship interview about Employment and School (N-400 Part 8) a USCIS officer sometimes asks a non-working applicant about a spouse's occupation, place of employment, and joint tax returns.

Furthermore, Senior Citizens who are preparing for their citizenship interview, should be prepared to answer more questions about financial support.

Example: (excerpt from Mr Wang)

More examples

• Senior citizens may also be asked about taxes, for example:
• Does your child declare you as a dependent on his or her tax return?

Do you pay taxes on your pension or investments in a foreign country?

Part 12:30i, is strongly linked to the "public charge rule." It asks: Have you ever made any misrepresentation to obtain any public benefit in the United States?

Public benefits is financial help from the government such as food stamps or healthcare, these are not part of the new "public charge" rule.

Some public benefits such as rent assistance, scholarships, or unemployment insurance are seen as means of financial support and may be asked about during the Part 8 Employment and Schools section.

If you were legally qualified to received these benefits, it's ok. Receiving public benefits does stop you from getting Citizenship.

If the USCIS officer needs further evidence such as tax returns or public benefits forms they will send you a letter requesting the specific documents after you complete your citizenship interview.

Finally, once a legal permanent resident becomes a new US citizen, he or she may sponsor his or her relatives to come to the United States.

USCIS will look very carefully potential immigrants' ability to support themselves.

USCIS will look at their work skills, education, and ability to speak English.

USCIS will also look at the applicant's health, finances, and ability to integrate into American society.

The sponsor must submit to Affidavit of Support which details their own ability to support the new immigrant.

For more details, see the show notes for the links USCIS.gov Green Card Process Procedures, particularly the Public Charge page.

Let's get started

USCIS.gov Green Card Process Procedures https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/green-card-processes-procedures

USCIS.gov Public Charge https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/public-charge

USCIS Announces Final Rule Enforcing Long-Standing Public Charge Inadmissibility Law (08/12/2019) https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-announces-final-rule-enforcing-long-standing-public-charge-inadmissibility-law

Excerpt from Chengyu Wang's Practice U.S. Citizenship Interview https://youtu.be/IiVHUCpoxrM

More 2020 Census Resources for Adult Education students at http://bit.ly/2020-AE

iCount! An Intetrview with the San Mateo Adult School Census Ambassador Team

Today we will continue our series: U.S. Citizenship and the 2020 Census

San Mateo County is partnering with the San Mateo Adult School to pilot a Census Ambassador training program, which will be launched across the county in Fall 2019.

In the previous podcast, we interviewed Aparna Ramakrishnan from the San Mateo County Census Team. In this interview, we hear from the San Mateo Adult School Ambassador team.

SAN MATEO ADULT SCHOOL CENSUS AMBASSADOR TEAM Alena Bashko, student Marina Zabruskova, student Shelley Cheng, Student Council President (morning session) Shereen Lata, Student Council Vice-President (morning session) Shirley Pinheiro, student Stephanie Kriebel, SMAS Census Ambassador Faculty Co-facilitator

San Mateo Adult School https://www.smuhsd.org/smas

This episode timeline

• 00:00 Podcast Intro
• 00:30 SMAS Census Ambassadors Intro
• 03:18 How you recruited to become a Census Ambassador?
• 04:04 What kind of class training was involved with becoming a Census Ambassador?
• 04:41 Why does the county want to know how many people live here?
• 05:38 Who taught/trained you to become a Census Ambassador?
• 07:09 Is there any fear/concern about the Census?
• 07:34 "What are you going to do with the information?"
• 08:01 "Why are you asking me?"
• 08:39 How is the Census process different this year?
• 09:15 What was your experience of the Census in your home country?
• 11:04 Is it difficult to talk to a stranger? How do you make people more comfortable?
• 11:50 "I have a complicated living situation..."
• 12:48 The Citizenship Question is dropped, but legal status info can be accessed via Federal agencies
• 16:22 Do you have any advice for Adult School to participate/start in a a Census Ambassador program?
• 17:50 When are the a Census Ambassador going out into the community in the upcoming year?
• 19:12 What are the objectives of the Census Ambassador program?
• 21:17 Planned Census Ambassador outreach events
• 21:57 What is an individual a Census Ambassador plan?
• 22:09 Can Adult Schools contact you? (see below for contact info)
• 22:33 Photos! Thanks! Good-bye!

For more more info about the San Mateo Adult School Census Ambassador training program, see https://cmo.smcgov.org/census-ambassador-program

or contact Aparna Ramakrishnan San Mateo County Census Team 400 County Center, Redwood City, CA 94063 (650) 363-1800

http://www.smccensus.org/ [email protected] @SMC_CommAffairs

I will be chopping up both interview with Aparna Ramakrishnan and the SMAS Census Ambassadors, and posting the subtitled videos to the uscitizenpod YouTube channel.

Listen to U.S. Citizenship and the U.S. Census 2020 series and other podcasts:

01. A Quick Comparison between the USCIS N-400 and Census 2020 (07/01/2019) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census.mp3 https://youtu.be/6dnF93zELuw

02. No Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census BUT.... (7/13/2019) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census-2.mp3 https://youtu.be/uoAthR65aBc

03. NEWS ALERT: USCIS Will Update the Naturalization Civics Test! (07/19/19) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/update.mp3 https://youtu.be/RR1slYZBX54

04. The 2020 Census: We are counting on YOU to make sure that WE ALL COUNT! (7/29/2019) An Interview with Aparna Ramakrishnan from the SMC Census Team video: https://youtu.be/Pgc5m-jZ7iU

podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census-sm4.mp3

blogpost: http://www.uscitizenpod.com/2019/07/the-2020-census-we-are-counting-on-you.html

OLDER PODCASTS ABOUT THE CENSUS

uscitizenpod: THE 2010 US CENSUS! (3/15/2010)

http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/2010census.mp3

uscitizenpod: The 2010 US Census in 4 minutes (3/16/2010)

http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/2010census-qs.mp3

uscitizenpod: An American Pentecost (6/6/2017) (based on Language Access information from the 2010 census) podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/american-pentecost.mp3

pdf: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/american-pentecost.pdf

video: https://youtu.be/L69nzNVlTxY

MORE:

Census.gov Promotional Materials and Guidelines

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/2020-census/planning-management/promo-print-materials.html

Census.gov Educational Resources

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis.html

For more info about the Census, listen to Hansi Lo Wang, NPR

https://www.npr.org/people/177498291/hansi-lo-wang Or follow him on Twitter @hansilowang

Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC) (Shirley Pinheiro volunteers here!) https://www.pcrcweb.org/ Offers mediation services for landlord/tenant and neighbor/neighbor disputes and training for community organizations.

The 2020 Census: We are counting on YOU to make sure that WE ALL COUNT! An Interview with Aparna Ramakrishnan from the SMC Census Team

• video: https://youtu.be/Pgc5m-jZ7iU
• podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census-sm4.mp3
• blogpost: http://www.uscitizenpod.com/2019/07/the-2020-census-we-are-counting-on-you.html

Today we will continue our series New Series: U.S. Citizenship and the U.S. Census 2020

Every 10 years, the federal government is required to count all residents in the United States, citizens and noncitizens alike, through a national census. The next national census is in April 2020. The information is used to make sure everyone is equally represented in our political system and that government resources are allocated fairly. It is also used to make important decisions about community programs and services, like where to build homes and parks, establish public transit routes, build new roads and offer language access services.

Participating in the Census is a civic responsibility for citizens and non-citizens similar to paying taxes and educating ourselves and our children.

In certain situations, people can refuse to pay taxes or send their children to school, but they cannot ignore what is happening in the community. They must learn the facts, and then make their decisions accordingly.

Today I will interview

Aparna Ramakrishnan from the SMC Census Team about their Census Ambassador program 400 County Center Redwood City, CA 94063 (650) 363-1800 [email protected] @SMC_CommAffairs

San Mateo County is partnering with the San Mateo Adult School to pilot a Census Ambassador training program, which will be launched across the county in Fall 2019. https://cmo.smcgov.org/census-ambassador-program

San Mateo County Census 2020 http://www.smccensus.org/

Census 2020 Outreach Resources --especially look at their Guides, Talking Points + Toolkits https://cmo.smcgov.org/census-2020-outreach-resources

Next Monday, I will post the podcast that I recorded at the San Mateo Adult School with the Census Ambassadors. And over the next several weeks, I will be chopping up both of these into smaller bits, and posting the subtitled videos to the uscitizenpod YouTube channel.

Let's get started! Interview with uscitizenpod: A Quick Comparison between the USCIS N-400 and Census 2020 (7/01/2019) https://youtu.be/6dnF93zELuw http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census.mp3

uscitizenpod: No Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census BUT.... (7/13/2019) https://youtu.be/uoAthR65aBc http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census-2.mp3

uscitizenpod: THE 2010 US CENSUS! (3/15/2010) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/2010census.mp3

uscitizenpod: The 2010 US Census in 4 minutes (3/16/2010) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/2010census-qs.mp3

An example of interpreting Language Access information from the 2010 census uscitizenpod: An American Pentecost (6/6/2017) podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/american-pentecost.mp3 pdf: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/american-pentecost.pdf video: https://youtu.be/L69nzNVlTxY

For more info about the Census, listen to Hansi Lo Wang, NPR https://www.npr.org/people/177498291/hansi-lo-wang or follow him on Twitter @hansilowang Also see:

Census.gov Promotional Materials and Guidelines https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/2020-census/planning-management/promo-print-materials.html

Census.gov Educational Resources https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis.html

In this podcast, I read, comment and summarize the latest USCIS memo about updates to the USCIS Civics test.

Watch for upcoming discussions between US government agencies, adult educators, community-based organization, and stakeholders, https://lincs.ed.gov/

USCIS Announces Plan to Improve the Naturalization Test (July 19, 2019)

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-announces-plan-improve-naturalization-test

WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is revising the current naturalization test with improvements to ensure it continues to serve as an accurate measure of a naturalization applicant's civics knowledge and that it reflects best practices in adult education assessments. The goal is to create a meaningful, uniform, and efficient test that will assess applicants' knowledge and understanding of U.S. history, government and values.

This spring, the former USCIS director signed the Revision of the Naturalization Civics Test Memorandum (PDF, 202 KB). This memorandum announces the revision of the naturalization test and formalizes a decennial revision schedule of the naturalization test based on adult education best practices.

"Granting U. S. citizenship is the highest honor our nation bestows," said USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli. "Updating, maintaining, and improving a test that is current and relevant is our responsibility as an agency in order to help potential new citizens fully understand the meaning of U.S. citizenship and the values that unite all Americans."

In December 2018, USCIS formed a naturalization test revision working group with members from across the agency. The working group has been reviewing and updating the naturalization test questions. The working group will also assess potential changes to the speaking portion of the test. USCIS is soliciting the input of experts in the field of adult education to ensure that this process is fair and transparent. After careful analysis of the pilot, and thorough officer training, USCIS will set an implementation date in December 2020 or early 2021.

Section 312 of the Immigration and Nationality Act outlines the English and civics requirements for naturalization. By law, candidates for naturalization must have "…an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write, and speak words in ordinary usage in the English language…" and "…knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history, and of the principles and form of government, of the United States..." This test revision will comply with all statutory and regulatory requirements, and USCIS will pilot it this fall.

In Fiscal Year 2018, USCIS naturalized nearly 757,000 people, a five-year high in new oaths of citizenship. The naturalization test revision is a key part of preparing legal immigrants to fully exercise their rights and meet their responsibilities.

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).

Today is Friday, July 12, 2019. Last week, I did A Quick Comparison between the USCIS N-400 and 2020 Census Form:

• Podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/census.mp3
• Video: https://youtu.be/6dnF93zELuw

This week I will give a quick update about the 2020 Census Form Citizenship Question.

Let's get started.

This past week, people closely followed the news about the 2020 Census. They wanted to know if the 2020 Census would include a Citizenship Question. The answer to this question seemed to change every hour.

President Trump wanted to have a Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census. He said that the Citizenship Question would protect voting rights.

The federal courts disagreed that the Citizenship Question would protect voting rights. The courts reviewed what the Constitution said about the Census, state representation, and voting rights. Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution says that Congress must count all people living in the United States every 10 years. The number of a state's representatives is based on the number of people--not citizens--who live in the state. If some people are not counted, states would lose members in the House of Representatives, plus government money for public services.

Also, many people oppose the Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census. They think that every person must be counted in the 2020 Census. They contacted their Senators and Representatives by phone, email, or Twitter. Some people said that they would not answer the Citizenship Question because they are not legal residents or live with people who are undocumented. There are afraid of being deported.

On Thursday, July 11, 2019, President Trump that the 2020 Census will not have the Citizenship Question BUT he issued an executive order for federal agencies to collect and share people's citizenship information. Trump said that the Citizenship information will show us how immigration changes America. The citizenship information will help us make stronger immigration laws and give public services. Trump's executive order wants states to draw voting districts based on number of eligible voters (citizens) instead of total number of people (citizens, legal residents, and undocumented), which many people say will give more power to Republicans & Non-Hispanic Whites voters and may take away the voting power of Democrats, Hispanic, African-American, and other minority voters.

While people are still taking about what Trump's executive order, communities are preparing for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids this weekend. All undocumented immigrants can be arrested and deported, not just immigrants who have committed crimes. Sometimes, U.S. citizens are arrested during ICE raids.

Remember, NEVER LIE ABOUT YOUR IMMIGRATION STATUS!

All people--citizens and non-citizens--have rights under the US Constitution.

• DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door.
• DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.
• DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.
• If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.

For more info about your rights in many languages, go to: https://www.informedimmigrant.com/resources/ilrc-red-cards/

Stay safe.

POP QUIZ

Listen to this podcast to find the answer to the following five questions:

1. Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?

2. What does the judicial branch do?

3. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.

4. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?

5. What are the two major political parties in the United States?*

6. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?

We are back from out hiatus with a new series about U.S. Citizenship and the U.S. Census 2020. The first episode is a quick comparison between the USCIS N-400 and Census 2020.

Check out our YouTube channel for a video version of this podcast and many more practice Citizenship interviews.

For more info about the Census 2020:

Follow Hansi Lo Wang @hansilowang on Twitter NPR.org national correspondent covering #2020Census

The New Yorker: How the Census Changed America by Ted Widmer, May 1, 2019 The simple act of enumeration created data processing, led to the establishment of the National Archives, and rooted a rootless people. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-the-census-changed-america

Officer David is back with all of the USCIS Civics Questions. The questions are asked in sets of ten (all the questions ending in 1 are asked first, followed by the 2s, etc).

You can listen and watch Officer David's other interviews below:

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 1 podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/officer-david-interview.mp3 video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/WFT0qmr1hl4

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 2 podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/officer-david-interview-2.mp3 video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/8dknLegW6pY

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 3 podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/david-3.mp3 video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/EyaDt7KUQF0

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 4 podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/david-4.mp3 video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/wczLyAPdTIc

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 5 video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/g6rxO0wCUDw podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/david-5.mp3

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 5--QUESTIONS ONLY! video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/Iblo-djqBSM

U.S. Citizenship Interview with Officer David Part 6 video with subtitles: https://youtu.be/yXMrQk_GMA4 podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/david-6.mp3

Subscribe and listen to US Citizenship Podcast https://uscitizenpod.libsyn.com/

Subscribe and watch US Citizenship Podcast on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/uscitizenpod/

New Year, New US Citizen playlist Our goal New Year's resolution: This Year--US Citizenship! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtyN34w6H7y44_dOoBykvyjDEdNSoeKwC

U.S. Citizenship Interviews with Officer David playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtyN34w6H7y6uBYUHVC6fGyI-NJQw6n5M

Subscribe to us via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or listen to us via TuneIn on your Amazon Echo!

Before the March 2019 revision of the N-400 application for Naturalization, we would like to review some vocabulary for Additional Information in the N-400 Part 12 (which will become Part 11 in the revised N-400). This review is based on:

N-400r Part 12 Overview Quiz (27 questions) http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/n-400r-12-overview-quiz.pdf

Also watch/listen to:

uscitizenpod: Preview of the Revised USCIS N-400 Application for Naturalization (March 2019) A quick preview of the revised USCIS N-400 Application for Naturalization (March 2019). Some of the vocabulary has been simplified, but the scope of the question has been broadened to reflect changes to US immigration policy and laws. video: https://youtu.be/jMWCwr4EIc4 podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/n-400-preview.mp3

uscitizenpod: U.S. Citizenship N-400 Part 12 Quiz (20 Questions) Milpitas Adult Students Guangfang Tao (Shenzhen, China) and Van Thi Bach Thach (Saigon, Vietnam) prepare to become #new US citizens in the Lunar New Year by practicing N-400 Part 12 vocabulary. video: https://youtu.be/ZDsTwhbLAEs podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/uscitizenpod/part-12.mp3

US Citizenship Resources for Black History Month https://www.uscitizenpod.com/2019/02/us-citizenship-resources-for-african.html

US Citizenship Resources for Presidents' Day https://www.uscitizenpod.com/2019/02/us-citizenship-resources-for-presidents.html

Also check out our new video series:

U.S. Citizenship Reading and Writing Test Practice (only 18 videos now, but will grow into over 50 videos soon) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtyN34w6H7y4wtr0MlDxpH39LZFUqWASp