Six students sit in a classroom at the Northside Catholic Youth Organization. They vary in age and country of origin, but they are working toward one goal — becoming a United States citizen.

Sue Lee, a citizenship instructor at Northside CYO, has been prepping refugees and immigrants for the naturalization exam for 13 years.

The oral exam requires the individual to answer six of 10 randomly selected questions about American history coming from a list of 100 possible questions. They must also put together simple sentences in English. And answer yes or no questions about their own application, Lee said.

“Some of the questions are a challenge,” Lee said. “If you asked, not all Americans would even be able to answer them.”

But taking the naturalization exam is the end of a usually long journey of getting to America and becoming a U.S. citizen. It’s a multi-step process to naturalization, beginning with being admitted as a refugee.

Admitted as a refugee

Refugees are among the most vetted people entering the country, making it a multi-year-long process. Prior to coming to America, many refugees spend years if not decades in refugee camps, Divya Hoffman, an immigration lawyer at Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society, said.

First a refugee must be examined to the “nth degree” before being allowed into America due to the strict refugee process.

When allowed into America as a refugee, the individual gains refugee status, meaning the individual can work and can receive some government assistance such as food stamps, Medicaid and other social services.

But while the government recognizes that refugees need help as they come into the country owning very little and often not knowing the language, there is an expiration date to the federal assistance. The refugee has seven years to become a citizen or they begin to lose their public benefits. This does not mean, however, that they must become U.S. citizens at that point. They can continue to legally live in America — just without federal assistance.

“A lot of the refugees are not looking to stay on public benefits for ever and ever,” Hoffman said. “But then we also have people that are more vulnerable, older-end people with severe disabilities for which losing those benefits has a huge impact on their quality of life.”

In those cases, the individual can apply for extended benefits, she said.

Refugees in the Syracuse area can also receive help from the Northside CYO, which works to resettle over 700 people a year, Felicia Castricone, the program director for refugee resettlement services at Northside CYO, said. In addition, the CYO offers tutoring classes for refugee children, English classes, parenting classes, recreational services and more.

The first year is usually the most difficult, so being positive and reassuring the refugees that they have made it this far is part of the daily job, said Lydia Andrews, youth programs coordinator at Northside CYO.

Permanent Residency

After one year’s time, a refugee can apply for permanent residence, which gives them a green card. This status allows the person work and reside in the country more freely. Green card holders are also allowed to vote in state and local elections, but not federal elections, according to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Typically it takes five to six months to process the application, Hoffman said. If it takes longer, that’s usually because the application got flagged for security issues, which can stall the application for years, she said. The holdup is sometimes due to criminal record, something Hoffman said many Americans don’t realize.

“Law enforcement still happens, if you commit certain crimes you are still going to face immigration consequences for that crime,” she said. “You don’t get a free pass (because you’re a refugee).”

Often times this leads to the individual going through a removal process. What someone does with their time as they are waiting to become citizens can have an effect on their application, Hoffman said.

Lee said that during their period as a permanent resident, many of the refugees use the time to improve their English as they prepare for the naturalization exam.

Naturalization

If the permanent residency process goes smoothly, the refugee must then wait five years until they are eligible for naturalization. And while refugees are in the country completely legally, Hoffman said some of the political rhetoric has made many refugees nervous and more eager to apply for citizenship.

“Sometimes people come from a place where the government has done horrible things to them,” Hoffman said. “The government has not protected them and that stays in your mind.”

The naturalization application fee is $725 for each person, Castricone said. And even though Northside CYO can look for some funding if needed, it is up to the applicant to come up with the money.

Once a naturalization application has been submitted and the refugee is notified that it has been received, they are sent in for fingerprinting, which is vetted by the FBI. This process is usually three to four months long, but with the Trump administration executive order that made cuts to the refugee resettlement program, the estimated time is between six and nine months, Hoffman said. The cuts would set the new limited on refugee entrants from 110,000, under former-President Obama, to 50,000.

Following the fingerprinting is the naturalization exam. There is about a three-month period in between submitting an application and taking the exam. It is then that those with good enough English begin to study. However, there are students that attend class for six to seven months, Lee said.

Lee doesn’t recommend a person takes the naturalization exam or even applies for naturalization until their English is proficient enough. This is something Lee makes very clear to their students because often times that is what will trip them up on the exam.
And once they have passed the exam and become naturalized citizens, the years of waiting and filling out applications allows the person to feel established once again as they are now a part of something. They are officially U.S. citizens.

“It’s kind of beautiful for a person to go from a situation where they been basically cast aside from their home country for one reason or another to being part of the American community, to being a part of this country, I think that means so much to people,” Hoffman said.

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Published on April 19, 2017 at 10:14 pm

Contact Ali: Ali Linan