The Citizenship Project seeks to assist low income immigrant working families through the naturalization process.   We offer citizenship assistance, fee waiver assistance and green card renewal services.  CHIRLA is a recognized charitable organization with the Bureau of Immigration Appeals and has an accredited representative on staff to better serve our applicants.

The Citizenship Project is a component of the Civic Engagement Project which seeks to involve new citizens in the electoral process by targeted campaigns to increase voter turnout from newly naturalized citizens and other voting family members.  We see citizenship services as a vital step in assuring that immigrant communities fully participate in the democratic and electoral process.

Useful links:   Eligibility for citizenship                             Eligibilidad para la ciudadania

Study guide and resources for US government and history requirements for naturalization in:

                     - English                                                  - Spanish

For more information contact Greg Simons at gsimons@chirla.org or call us at (213) 353-1333 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (213) 353-1333 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (213) 353-1333      end_of_the_skype_highlighting      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

CHIRLA’s American Dream Citizenship Campaign

Since January 2011, CHIRLA has set out to establish a robust citizenship campaign that can be integrated to work alongside our other Civic Engagement efforts. Our identified regions consist of the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valley who have 209,203 (27% of LA County) and 124,110 (16%) eligible LRPs, respectively.  CHIRLA will continue to focus on these regions because of the size of this underserved community around citizenship services and our ongoing civic engagement and advocacy work.

Through the National Partnership for New Americans CHIRLA launched a program in January 2012, "Become a Citizen Now".

CHIRLA HAS:

Been awarded BIA accreditation by local DHS offices and the Bureau of Immigration Appeals.

Trained 23 paralegal volunteers to assist CHIRLA in naturalization workshops in Southern California.

Have assisted more than 750 inviduals over the phone and office walk-ins regarding citizenship questions and process.

Built strong relationships with our local USCIS office and the Naturalization Advisory Committee that CHIRLA is also a part of.

Been a partner organization with the National Partnership for New Americans dedicated at advancing the integration and active citizenship of immigrants to achieve a vibrant, just, and welcoming democracy for all.

Have begun recruiting California DREAM Network campus organizations to host local citizenship workshops in Southern California for 2012-2013.

CHIRLA IS NOW WORKING ON:

• A series of workshops in Pasadena, Baldwin Park, and other parts of the San Gabriel Valley
• Work with CHIRLA’s strong member volunteer base in the San Fernando Valley to expand its citizenship efforts
• A series of ongoing Naturalization workshops twice a month at Baldwin Park’s St. John the Baptist Church.  Workshop series will begin early 2012 servicing between 25-50 individuals each month.
• Coordinating ongoing citizenship awareness in California with key partners such as APALC, KRC, NAKASEC, NALEO, etc.
• Have scheduled ongoing Paralegal trainings to train 25-30 new individuals throughout 2012.