Collection Development "U.S. Citizenship": The Long and Winding Road

In 1790, Congress passed the first act governing naturalization, which provided that any free, white, male or female adult alien who had resided within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States for a period of two years was eligible for citizenship. From this humble beginning our current system of granting naturalized citizenship developed, one primarily laid out by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 and amended many times since. Ongoing efforts to reform immigration and naturalization laws aim to replace this act with one more attuned to the needs of immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship as well as to the needs of the United States.

The greatest recent change has been the 2003 folding of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a cabinet department of the federal government created by Presidential Directive in 2002 to “disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people.” The responsibility of administering immigration services subsequently fell under the purview of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), now called the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The decades-long trend of fewer legal permanent residents (LPRs) becoming naturalized citizens—owing in part to the imposition of immigration quotas in the 1920s and the Great Depression—began to reverse itself in the 1970s. By 2006, the DHS estimated there were 12.1 million LPRs in the United States, a number it projected would increase by about five percent annually. Of these LPRs, the USCIS approximated in 2004, more than 650,000 were sworn in at naturalization ceremonies in one year.

This upward trend, arguably attributable to increased hostility toward undocumented aliens and limits on the availability of various public-assistance programs enacted in the 1990s, has resulted in a backlog of USCIS cases and delays in processing that the USCIS continues to work on clearing. The road toward naturalization, then, is not only a long, winding, and acronym-laden one but one that can stretch on for some time.

To become a naturalized U.S. citizen, one must meet the general requirements set forth in the INA. These include:

• A minimum of six consecutive months spent in the United States per year
• Residence in a particular USCIS district prior to filing
• The ability to read, write, and speak English
• Knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government
• Attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution.

However, as with so many issues involving our government, the devil is in the details. To meet the above requirements, a prospective citizen must do the following and more:

• Complete an N-400 Application for Naturalization
• Send the application, passport-style photographs, and other documents along with a $700 fee to the appropriate service center
• Wait for an appointment letter from the USCIS to have fingerprints taken
• Wait for the USCIS to schedule an interview appointment (this can take up to a year)
• Go to a local USCIS office at the specified time with all necessary paperwork
• Answer questions about application and background
• Take the English and civics tests
• Receive a decision; await a ceremony date.

Unfortunately, there are always people wanting to take advantage of those who do not understand how our government works. Steer patrons away from people or organizations charging for government forms, offering “expedited” fee-based services, refusing to give an estimate for how much the process will cost, or generally making any promises that sound too good to be true.

“Library Services for Immigrants” (www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/G-1112.pdf), a nationwide report published jointly by the USCIS and Institute of Museum and Library Services, will be useful in this regard. It surveys best practices as well as offers “ideas for libraries that wish to provide programs and services for immigrants living in their communities.”

Look to trustworthy publishers for material in this area—e.g., Barron's, Kaplan, Nolo, LearningExpress—and especially to government sources like the USCIS.

At any stage of the naturalization process, public librarians can be an invaluable resource, offering patrons access to all relevant resources available in print, on CD or DVD, and online—the very best of which are the subject of this article.

Remember that, since “an ability to read, write and speak English” is one of the requirements for naturalization, most study materials appear only in English. Some are also available is Spanish, but even those are generally of limited usefulness (since the tests must be taken in English) and focus more on the process than on the actual tests.

Maintaining your collection of materials on the citizenship test is fairly straightforward. Make sure the test guides in your collection are both in good condition and current; any citizenship-related titles should be replaced every two years or whenever the forms and processes change.

The current civics and English tests were developed in the 1950s and haven't changed very much since. However, the rest of the process and some of the forms required changed in 2003, when the INS was absorbed by the DHS. The N-400, or Application for Naturalization, seems to change annually; in fact, there are additional changes around the bend.

In October 2008, the USCIS will begin phasing in new civics, reading, and writing tests. The transition period will end in October 2009. If an applicant...

• ...applies before October 1, 2008, and is scheduled for his/her naturalization interview before October 1, 2008, he/she must take the current test.
• ...applies before October 1, 2008, and is scheduled for his/her naturalization interview after October 1, 2008, he/she can choose to take either the current test or the redesigned version.
• ...applies after October 1, 2008, he/she will take the redesigned version.
• ...is scheduled for his/her naturalization interview after October 1, 2009, regardless of the date of application, he/she will take the redesigned version.

This means your study guide collection will need to be transitioned beginning in October 2008 and completely replaced by October 2009. As of this article's writing, study guides focusing on the new tests are still in development and not yet available.

In the following bibliography, starred (*) items are recommended as core resources for all libraries.