As an immigrant to the United States, I am all too familiar with the feeling of helplessness that surrounds a language barrier. If I had a dime for every time I asked someone to repeat their words more simply and slowly, I’m confident I could live in luxury for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, life isn’t that easy -- in order to fully thrive in American society, command of English is crucial. I had the good fortune of coming to the States when I was very young, so learning a new language wasn’t as formidable a task as it is for older immigrants, like my parents. My skills certainly helped me a lot with the English language requirement of the naturalization exams. But people who simply do not have the time or energy to learn the English language do not need to despair  -- the United States has created a system that permits specific immigrants to obtain citizenship without being good at English.

According to USCIS, an applicant is “exempt from the English language requirement but is still required to meet the civics requirement” if they fit under two categories:

1. The applicant is age 50 or older at the time of filing for naturalization and has lived as a lawful permanent resident (LPR, or alternatively ‘green card holder’) in the U.S. for at least 20 years, or
2. The applicant is age 55 or older at the time of filing for naturalization and has lived as an LPR in the U.S. for at least 15 years.

These rules are commonly referred to as the 50/20 and 55/15 exceptions. Both these categories still require the civics test, but applicants who qualify for English exemption can take the civics test in their language of choice with an interpreter. For more information about these exemptions, check out this link.   

But what if you want to attempt the English test? USCIS requires naturalization applicants to demonstrate an ability to read, write, speak, and understand words in “ordinary usage.” Ordinary usage means comprehensible communication through simple vocabulary and grammar, which may include “errors in pronouncing, constructing, spelling, and understanding completely certain words, phrases, and sentences.” Yes, you read that right -- USCIS claims that an applicant can make “some errors in pronunciation, spelling, and grammar and still meet the English requirement for naturalization.” However, don’t rely on this leniency! If you choose to take the English test, make sure to prepare in advance and keep track of any mistakes during the exam. There is a variety of courses tailored for immigrants trying to study English, such as “English Innovations,” “CAL Solutions,” and “Carlos Rosario International School” and much more.

There is one more facet of the English test that someone may not know. For some people, it might simply be better, regardless of their skills in the English language, to file the N-400 (the Application for Naturalization). We can’t express how many people in the United States suffer unnecessarily because they are afraid of the English tests. You might not think you need citizenship, but naturalization opens up a new world of opportunities to an immigrant. Additionally, legal issues are different to an immigrant -- they can face possible deportation for a very light crime (read more about these important issues here). Thus, that is why various immigration lawyers will push you to apply for naturalization if it’s feasible. Also, one tip that many immigrants are unaware of is it’s possible to pass the English test via repetition.

Never give up on your American Dream because of the language barrier. The United States rewards perseverance and commitment.  

Keun Won "Brian" Lee
HMA Legal Intern, Spring 2018
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I've always advocated for clients to become US citizens as soon as possible.
Sometimes I get asked, "So once I'm a citizen, I'm good, right?" And I say, "Yes, generally. There is always a chance of denaturalization (revoking citizenship) but that is relatively rare."

Enter Operation Janus. I will not be alarmist, but I can no longer give such advice.

On September 8, 2016, the Office of Inspector General reported that 858 people had been granted US citizenship based on incomplete fingerprint records. Normally, fingerprints are checked against both immigration and FBI digital databases, but neither of these databases included all older, paper records. So some people's fingerprints may have matched older records but because they were not in either database, it failed to generate a positive hit, and was therefore never investigated.

Another 148,000 records were identified by ICE as not having been digitized (and hence not in the databases normally checked). These were of people who were fugitives, had criminal records, orders of deportation, or were otherwise potentially ineligible for citizenship. Some of those, perhaps, tried to (and maybe became) citizens.

On January 5, 2018 the first casualty of Operation Janus lost his citizenship: Baljinder Singh (aka Davinder Singh) of India. Two other Operation Janus cases (Parvez Manzoor Khan and Rashid Mahmood, both of Pakistan) in September apparently remain pending.

The DOJ is investigating 315,000 cases in which people were granted citizenship without the proper fingerprint data available. USCIS intends to refer approximately another 1,600 for denaturalization prosecution. It remains to be seen how they will decide which cases to pursue - most of these 315,000 may have been granted citizenship on incomplete data, but now the data will be checked and perhaps nothing will turn up. If there is any irregularity, however, prosecution becomes possible, and if there is a hint of fraud, it becomes likely.

Denaturalization can be prosecuted whenever citizenship was "unlawfully procured" - it does *not* require there to be fraud. Mistaken grants of permanent residence or citizenship count as "unlawful procurement" of citizenship. So it will be up to the DOJ to decide whether to prosecute. I need not remind you that Jeff Sessions heads the DOJ.

This will seemingly affect mostly people who have been US citizens for decades, where there is an older, non-digital fingerprint record that may not have been checked - until now.

Main takeaways from this story:

1. Old issues can and will come back to haunt you. If you're on the path to citizenship, remember this and remember it well.
2. Citizenship is not truly final. Do not be lulled into a false sense of security.
3. It will be interesting to see the breakdown by country of former nationality of Operation Janus.

Attorney Lily S. Axelrod correctly points out: this is not a reason to panic, and it's certainly not a reason not to file for citizenship. What it does mean is that sound advice is very important. It also means citizenship is not an straightforward as it used to be.

Make sure you're not accidentally registered to vote if you're not a citizen.



On May 11, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to create a new Commission for Election Integrity. Vice-chaired by notorious anti-immigrant Kris Kobach (the guy who designed the Muslim registry, NSEERS, and co-authored Arizona's "show me your papers" law) this new commission will seek to uncover "widespread" evidence of voter fraud. He promised to do this early on in his Presidency:

That means they will be looking for anything to increase the number of supposed cases.

A few years ago, we represented a refugee who had gone to the DMV to get a driver's license and, unbeknownst to him, had registered to vote by signing onto a "packet" of forms. No one asked whether he was a US citizen; he was eligible for a driver's license, and that was it. He nearly lost his chance to become a citizen - we were able to "timely recant" his registration, to prevent his near-certain deportation. (There are very few waivers for falsely claiming to be a US citizen.)

These cases are more common than you'd think: most folks doing voter registration drives are not aware of the consequences of voter registration on non-citizens. With Trump's new commission, we're going to see a lot more. One of the things Kobach has said he wants to do is to run the immigration database against the voter rolls. Once that's done, we're going to see prosecutions for voter fraud skyrocket, and all of these people - many of whom may have accidentally registered - will be placed into deportation proceedings.
Protect yourself. If you are not a citizen, call your local election board (usually at the county level) and make sure you are NOT registered.

This Wikipedia link has links to nearly all state voter portals, which may help you be able to search for your name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Voter_registration_in_the_United…

And if you are a non-citizen and find you are registered to vote, contact a lawyer immediately.
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Citizenship is in many ways the end of the long road of immigration. Besides its obvious civic value, we celebrate grants of citizenship with our clients because it is truly an accomplishment. Even "simple" or "straightforward" cases involve a great deal of patience, time, and uncertainty. But if you've ever had to fight USCIS to win your citizenship, the victory means a lot more.

Earlier this month, we celebrated a most unusual naturalization victory.

Our client was initially one of the "lucky" ones - he won the Diversity Visa lottery. The DV lottery is essentially just that: dropping your name into a large hat in the hopes of being randomly selected for a green card. The regulations state that if you are selected, you must list all members of your entire family - spouse, parents, children, stepchildren. If you don't, the regulation states that the immigrant visa "shall" be denied. There are very good reasons for doing this: if a person announces in their home country that they won the DV lottery, there will be people willing to "marry" them to accompany them as spouses, or others who will give their children to the DV lottery winner.

Thus, the language of the regulation leaves virtually no room for error - if you make a mistake and forget to list someone, it doesn't matter whether you intended to mislead them or not. You lose the visa. But what do you do if you made an honest mistake? Or had a child but didn't know about it?

Our client neglected to mention a stepchild, and further had a son he did not know about.

He got his green card and filed for naturalization. By that time, he truthfully disclosed about his son and stepchild, telling USCIS he only recently became aware of his son, and that he had not listed the stepchild because his wife had no dealings with him. 

USCIS found that because he did not list those two people on his DV lottery application years before, his immigrant visa should have been denied, he never should have gotten his green card, so he was not "lawfully admitted for permanent residence" and therefore could not naturalize.

We filed the case again, but with a new argument:

In other words, because there is an option for the consular post to ask for an advisory opinion, there is a possibility, however remote, that an immigrant visa can be issued even if there were mistakes on the application. If there was a possibility, then the Service cannot say the immigrant visa "should have been denied" which meant he wasn't necessarily "not lawfully admitted for permanent residence." 

USCIS didn't buy it. The case was denied again. This time, we didn't take it lying down. We filed an N-336 petition for a rehearing.

In the rehearing, we repeated the same argument, but took pains to remind USCIS that their decision denying the N-400 was flat out wrong:

USCIS had tried to argue that failure to comply with all substantive legal requirements (ie, completing the DV lottery application accurately) precluded "lawful admission as a permanent resident." But USCIS themselves didn't follow the substantive legal requirements in making that finding! When confronted with this argument, USCIS relented, and our client was scheduled for an oath ceremony.

It is always the tough cases that we remember as lawyers. For the world that has now opened up for our long-suffering client, the continued prosperity, and the end of a long period of uncertainty, we offer our sincere congratulations. To everyone else: make sure you are accurate on all your filings with USCIS!

Being an immigration lawyer has taught me at least one important lesson: it is far easier to prevent a mess than it is to clean up one.  If you qualify, there is one relatively simple thing you can do that will help prevent many serious problems, and also provide multiple benefits to you.

It's filing for US citizenship.

Popular wisdom says that the only difference between a green card holder and a citizen is the right to vote. It's a lot more than that.

As lawyers, we know the immigration system, its pitfalls and its perils. Citizenship fees are an insurance premium for a fantastic policy that keeps you from having to deal with that system. Once you're a citizen, there are no more worries about time spent outside the US, or filing green card renewals. And the policy comes with other perks, too. You get the right to petition for loved ones – spouses, children, parents, siblings. You get the right to vote, giving you a voice in your community. You qualify for many more forms of government aid. Many government jobs require US citizenship – a major benefit for members of our Washington, DC metropolitan community.  Nowadays, citizenship applications (at least here in the DC area) are being processed in 2 - 3 months.  It's a good time to file.

But there is another benefit that is frequently overlooked, largely because most people are  not aware of this benefit until it's too late. If you find yourself charged with a crime, being a citizen means you cannot be placed into removal (deportation) proceedings. The most common thing I hear in response to this is, “I am not a criminal, I have nothing to hide, and this doesn't apply to me.” Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Many people commit technically criminal acts, which may not even be serious crimes, but for which the immigration consequences are disastrous. Laws are treated differently in immigration. As a federal judge wrote just last week, "While under our law numerous felonies are deemed not...[to cause deportation]...all acts of petty theft automatically qualify for that label and the drastic legal consequences that may follow. As some in today’s society might say, and with good reason, “Go figure.”" Ocegueda-Nunez v. Holder (9th Cir. 2/10/2010).  I have seen the dejected look on many clients' faces over the years, all of whom were good people who found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time.

It only matters when it matters, but when it does, it's a big deal. You may never be charged with a crime. But everything you have worked for rides on your ability to remain in the United States. Protect your life's work and your family by filing for citizenship. With all the other benefits it comes with, you have very little to lose.