New Deal for New Americans: Easing Citizenship, Integration, and Refugee Support.
This Act aims to facilitate citizenship and full integration for immigrants and refugees by removing financial and linguistic barriers. It establishes a new federal office to coordinate integration efforts, creates grant programs for legal aid, English language learning, and workforce training, and introduces automatic voter registration for newly naturalized citizens. Key changes include capping naturalization fees and significantly expanding financial and social support for refugees.
Key points
Citizenship Costs Reduced: Naturalization application fee is capped at $50, and low-income individuals (under 150% of the Federal Poverty Line) are eligible for fee waivers for immigration services.
Automatic Voter Registration: Newly naturalized citizens will be automatically registered to vote unless they affirmatively decline, simplifying civic participation.
Integration Support Funded: Establishes the National Office of New Americans and authorizes $300 million (for fiscal years 2022-2023) for grants supporting legal services, English language instruction, and job training.
English Requirement Waivers: Waives the English language requirement for naturalization for older applicants (65+ with 5 years of residency, or 50/55/60+ with longer residency).
Enhanced Refugee Assistance: Sets a minimum annual refugee admission goal (125,000) and extends the period for cash and social assistance to at least one year.
Expired
Citizen Poll