From the press release:
Immigration Project and University YMCA host Citizenship Application Workshop in Champaign County
May 13, 2017 from 9am-1pm
at St. Patrick Catholic Church
708 W. Main, Urbana, IL
Attention eligible permanent residents of Illinois. The University YMCA and the Immigration Project would like to share with you an upcoming opportunity to get help in becoming U.S. Citizen. U.S. citizenship is the path to full participation in our country. As a U.S. citizen, you will be able to vote, travel freely, petition to unite with other family members, have access to a wider range of job opportunities, and have access to all of the rights, benefits, and responsibilities of a full member of the United States of America. Under the New Americans Initiative, the University YMCA is collaborating with the Immigration Project to host a Citizenship (N400) workshop in Champaign County on Saturday, May 13th, 2017 from 9am-1pm at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Urbana, IL. The New Americans Initiative is a not-for-profit partnership with The State of Illinois and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which helps permanent residents in Illinois through the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.
At the May 13th workshop, permanent residents (green card holders) will start an initial screening to verify if they are prepared enough to continue through the workshop, followed by the legal screening conducted by qualified immigration attorneys of the Immigration Project and DOJ accredited representatives, and then through other help stations such as the fee waiver eligibility station all the way to the final checklist station to complete the application packet. For prepared applicants who pass through each station, the average time to complete the workshop is 2.5 hours.
We want to make sure permanent residents living in Illinois have all their documents together for them to bring to the workshop on May 13th so that they can leave the workshop with the application completed and ready to mail. Our goal is to help 30 permanent residents (green card holders) who are ready to apply for U.S. citizenship make it all the way through the workshop with an N400 application ready to mail. Permanent residents across the State of Illinois will be traveling to attend this workshop. Multilingual assistance in Spanish and French will be available at the workshop. Other language assistance may be available upon advance request.
If permanent residents show up without the documents they need (list of documents are on page 2 of the attached flyers in English, Spanish, and French) they will receive more information about the naturalization process and will be asked to come back to another workshop at a later date with the documents. The University YMCA is also helping permanent residents prepare for the workshop and to get more information about the process of applying for U.S. citizenship by scheduling one-on-one appointments at any time.
Even if you do not plan to apply at the workshop but want more information about the process of naturalization, do not hesitate to call the New Americans Welcome Center team at the University YMCA. Contact Megan at megan@universityymca.org or by calling 217-337-1500. For assistance in Spanish and French, contact the Y’s La Linea Community Helpline at 217-417-5897.
Assistance with document preparation and informational appointments through the University YMCA are always free, confidential and open to the public. The service fee for the Immigration Project to process your N400 (naturalization) application at the May 13th workshop is $50 (check or money order). See the attached flyers for more information about what you need to bring to the workshop.
