Naturalization: Helping Immigrant Clients Maintain Access to Social Services
Clearinghouse Review, Vol. 32, p. 50, 1998
7 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2009
Date Written: 1998
Abstract
With all the demands placed on legal services advocates to help individuals with problems concerning public benefits, housing, and domestic relations, the idea of adding yet another area of service may seem too much to handle. The problem of not learning about how to help noncitizens naturalize, however, is that unless these clients naturalize, they may lose access to public benefits and housing and expose themselves to deportation. Legal services providers on a daily basis encounter vulnerable immigrants who face uncertainty regarding eligibility for benefits. The only way to relieve such uncertainty is to help immigrant clients naturalize. This article describes the fundamentals of naturalization and gives an overview of its process.
Keywords: naturalization, immigration, citizenship
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