The Long Beach Community Hispanic Association (Centro CHA) will host a citizen application workshop this Saturday from 9am – 2pm on the 2nd floor at 727 Pine Ave, offering expanded opportunities for Long Beach residents to receive assistance with their citizenship applications.
The workshop is in response to growing concern over recent changes in permanent residency card requirements, as well as the US civics and history citizenship exam – which is more in-depth than the former version and has sparked criticism by many local groups.
Under the policies proposed by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), permanent residents who received a green card lacking an expiration date between 1979 and 1989 will be required to surrender those cards and apply for a replacement card, which will have an expiration date of ten years and cost $370 for each renewal. Many applicants renewing their cards could also be denied a new green card.
Additionally, qualified permanent residents who wish to apply for citizenship must apply before October 1, 2008 to avoid taking the new pilot U.S. history and civics exam.