On July 2, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released the “Interagency Strategy for Promoting Naturalization”. This strategy was developed in response to President Biden’s Executive Order No. 14012, which required government agencies to work together to improve and promote naturalization in the United States.
The purpose of this new strategy is to remove barriers that prevent individuals from naturalizing and to develop a clear and coordinated process for all eligible persons. This will lead to more efficient and fair adjudications of naturalization benefits and substantially reduce current processing times.
The proposed strategy will promote naturalization through citizenship education and awareness and by building capacity and expanding partnerships within local communities. Goals and outcomes of the new strategy include:
- Raising awareness of the importance of citizenship;
- Promoting civic integration and inclusion;
- Providing immigrants with opportunities and tools to become fully engaged citizens;
- Building community capacity to prepare immigrants for citizenship;
- Eliminating sources of fear and other barriers that prevent individuals from accessing available naturalization services; and
- Advancing and ensuring equality throughout the citizenship and naturalization process, including on the basis of race, disability, language access, national origin, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, and providing support to traditionally underserved communities.
The new naturalization strategy is available to the public and is outlined in a PDF on USCIC’s website. If you have questions about naturalization or are interested in applying, please contact our office. One of our experienced attorneys would be happy to assist!
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