Citizenship Drive Helps Immigrants Apply Before Fee Hike

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) The cost to apply for U.S. citizenship will jump more than $250 at the end of this month. The fee hike is prompting immigration advocates to hold citizenship drives, encouraging people to apply now:

"That's a substantial amount of money for a lot of our working people - it could be a week's pay for many of them," says Yapias.

Utah Latino Project founder Tony Yapias is organizing a citizenship and voter registration drive at 17-hundred South and Redwood Road tomorrow.

Immigration attorney Marlene Gonzalez will help attendees complete the multi-page citizenship application.

Any permanent resident with a green card and five years of legal residency is eligible for citizenship. Gonzalez says money is just one reason many immigrants put off applying for citizenship:

"Some people have a problem with knowing enough English to take the test," says Gonzalez. "It's just basic simple English requirements for the interview, but the limited English population has a hard time with that."

Gonzalez says applicants usually have about six months to study for the civics interview. If they fail more than once, they will have to reapply and pay the fees again. Yapias estimates about one-third of Utah's Hispanic population is eligible for U.S. citizenship.

Tuesday's free citizenship and voter registration drive will run from 12 - 7 p.m. at Poder Para La Familia Hispana (1737 S. Redwood Road, SLC).

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW