News & Views

Citizenship Advocacy: May 2021

Have you (or someone you know) had difficulties applying for citizenship or another immigration benefit through USCIS? 

On April 18, 2021, USCIS issued a request for comments from customers regarding barriers to USCIS immigration benefits and services. 

The more people who send their concerns, the more likely it is that they will respond!

Submit your comment here through the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) website.

The deadline for comments is midnight (Eastern) on May 19. You can view all the comments submitted so far here.

Not sure what to talk about? Here are a few talking points:

  1. Not being able to apply to naturalize or for another benefit because of the fees or having a hard time applying for a fee waiver. Solutions:
    • Make fees cheaper (or at least make applying for fee waivers easier)
  2. Unacceptably long wait times. Solutions:
    • End in-person interviews for green cards for asylees and refugees since they were recently vetted
    • Hire more staff and open more offices
    • Create the opportunity for same day oath ceremonies for citizenship
    • Get rid of extreme-vetting which is time consuming and puts disproportionate burden on low-income immigrants, without resulting in meaningful change
  3. No longer have USCIS make referrals to ICE.
  4. Make naturalization an easy process for any long term resident, rather than an obstacle course individuals have to jump through. Solutions:
    • Better multilingual marketing
    • Invest in technology that makes it easier to apply for benefits
  5. Simplify the form and adjudication process for medical waivers.
TONIGHT (4/20) - Join us ONLINE at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!

Join us ONLINE at 6:45PM TONIGHT, Thursday, April 20th, for HIAS PA's 2023 Golden Door Awards: United for Immigrants!

Happy Passover from HIAS Pennsylvania!HIAS PA is closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover

HIAS Pennsylvania will be closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover from 1PM on Wednesday, April 5th through Friday, April 7th, and on Wednesday, April 12th and Thursday, April 13th.

Join us at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!United for Immigrants

The Golden Door Awards is HIAS Pennsylvania's annual fundraiser. Your generous support helps us serve low-income immigrants from all over the world as they build new lives in our community.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

TONIGHT: Join us at the table!Join us for Thankful Together!

Thankful Together, formerly known as Refugee Thanksgiving, is happening TONIGHT at 6PM!

Register here to join us tonight: https://hiaspa1.wpengine.com/event/thankful-together-2021/

Celebrate our volunteers who make this all possible!Click here at 11:45AM to join our Annual Meeting!

Click here to join our virtual Annual Meeting!

The Annual Meeting starts at noon, but join us at 11:45AM for an informal chat before the event!

POSTPONED! Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan

Today's Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan Facebook Live event has been postponed due to a worldwide Facebook outage. We will update you as soon as possible about rescheduling the event.