In partnership with LA Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, community groups offer free Pan-Asian citizenship workshop at LA Central Library
LOS ANGELES – May marks the 22nd annual month-long observance of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. In celebration, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, in collaboration with Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Office of Immigrant Affairs, Los Angeles Public Library, Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI), South Asian Network (SAN), and the Korean Resource Center (KRC), will be hosting a free citizenship workshop on Saturday, May 31 from 10:30am – 4pm. The event will be held at the Central Library located at 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071, as part of the Los Angeles Public Library’s citywide “Path to Citizenship” initiative.
The collaboration has come together to offer all attendees free in-language assistance in various Asian languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Tagalog, Hindi, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Advancing Justice – LA and its partners look forward to using the new N-400 application for citizenship form at this event. Portions of the new form will make it easier for applicants to apply for citizenship even though the form has become longer.
“Now that the new form has been implemented as of May 5th we are excited to start helping our immigrant community apply for citizenship,” said Nasim Khansari, citizenship network manager at Advancing Justice – LA. “Although the form is longer, we find that there are lots of improvements as well.”
Since 2000, over a million people from Asian countries and the Pacific Islands obtained lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in California. Forty percent of all LPRs in California were from Asian countries or the Pacific Islands, yet many do not pursue naturalization due to lack of resources within communities to guide and educate potential applicants about the naturalization process.
“We believe that citizenship is integral to civically engaging our communities,” said Advancing Justice-Los Angeles President and Executive Director Stewart Kwoh. “We want to ensure that the citizenship process is accessible to as many immigrants as possible and we look forward to partnering with other local community-based organizations as well as Mayor Garcetti.”
“This work reflects our commitment to hitting the pavement and helping all of our immigrant communities succeed,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “It further catapults Los Angeles at the forefront of immigration issues and helps move the nation in the right direction.”
“The Los Angeles Public Library is pleased to be co-sponsoring this event as part of its ‘Path to Citizenship’ initiative, which strengthens immigrant integration by establishing the city’s 73 libraries as citizenship resource centers,” said City Librarian John F. Szabo. “Each library provides staff trained in the naturalization process, ‘Citizenship Corners’ with a full range of resources, and citizenship-related programs, classes, and workshops supported by community partners. Since we launched the initiative in 2012 in collaboration with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, 11,000 people have participated in more than 840 free citizenship programs at our libraries.”
At the workshop, staff from Advancing Justice – LA, FASGI, SAN, KRC, pro bono attorneys, and trained volunteers will help individuals fill out the new N-400 application form and assist qualified applicants with a fee waiver which waives the $680 application fee. Applicants who complete the N-400 at the workshop will receive free study materials including flash cards, workbooks, and DVDs, as well as free passport photos. Generally, in order to naturalize, an individual must:
-Be at least 18 years old
-Be a permanent resident (“green card holder”)
-Have continuously resided in the US for at least five years as a permanent resident
-Have been physically present in the United States for at least two-and-a-half years
-Demonstrate good moral character
-Have a basic understanding of US government and history
-Be able to understand, speak, read, and write basic English
For more information on the naturalization requirements please visit Advancing Justice – LA’s website.
To schedule an appointment for the May 31 workshop, prospective applicants should contact:
Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (Chinese): (800) 520-2356
Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (Thai): (800) 914-9583
Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (Vietnamese): (800) 267-7395
Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (Tagalog): (213) 483-9804
Korean Resource Center (Korean): (323) 937-3718
South Asian Network (South Asian Languages): (562) 403-0488
