Jersey City, NJ

Over the past two years, Jersey City’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion has partnered with US Citizenship and Immigration Services to provide permanent legal residents with free naturalization information sessions and Citizenship Clinics among other programs and services to reduce barriers to naturalization and pave “pathways for the American Dream.” About 60 individuals have become citizens over the past eighteen months, including 71-year old Jersey resident Miriam Monterrosa. Monterrosa was assisted by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion with naturalization paperwork and attended a Naturalization Information Session hosted by a USCIS representative (sessions are offered in both English and Spanish), before she took her oath to become a US citizen in February earlier this year and “accomplished a great dream.” The Office of Diversity and Inclusion Citizenship Clinics offer support to naturalization applicants from the beginning to end with citizenship consultation appointments, free immigration information, assistance filling out the application, and resources to prepare for the citizenship exam and interview. The USCIS Information Sessions are free of charge and open to the public; they consist of workshops on eligibility requirements, application instructions, citizen rights and responsibilities, and distribute study materials for the test and interview.