Reflections on a Mega Citizenship Drive
One of my jobs at work is coordinating "citizenship clinics:" one-day events where we bring together lawyers, paralegals, and trained volunteers to help Legal Permanent Residents apply for naturalization. The volunteers mostly take charge of typing - or, sometimes, handwriting - the appropriate forms. The N-400 Application for Naturalization is 20 pages long, and depending on your income level you either have to enclose: $725; or $325 plus a completed I-942 Application for Reduced Fee; or a completed I-912 Application for Fee Waiver All of these forms are written in legalese, and getting them wrong can lead to your deportation. As you may imagine, lots of prospective citizens are too intimidated to fill them out solo. That's where citizenship clinics come in. In December 2017, I got an email from my contact at the legal department of Gay Men's Health Crisis. She had copied someone from the legal department of Catholic Migration Services. They had a question