CATHOLIC CHARITIES' PARTNERSHIPS PROVE TO BE SUCCESSFUL ONCE AGAIN
Salomon Cardenas and children: Clients’ children came to the US as legal permanent residents. Since Mr. Salomon became a US Citizen and the children were minors, they were entitled to immediate derivative citizenship. Maria Pouncey (from PAEC) referred them to our office. We filed form N-600 to request citizenship certificates for each child. However, after six months of the filing date, USCIS had not replied to their request. We contacted the office of Congressman Allan Boyd and worked with Edna Parker in requesting an interview in Jacksonville. A citizenship certificate was issued for each child after Boyd’s intervention. This is an example of collaboration between community agencies. Please, note that Catholic Charities of NWFL had started the citizenship process several years ago, but the cases got denied by the USCIS for lack of prosecution (the attorney who was working on the cases was no longer working at CC and nobody followed up on the pending cases). When Pouncey first contacted our office about these clients, she expressed her concern and disappointment with our agency. We reassured her that things were different and she decided to trust us. The immigration specialist went to her office in Quincy and met with her and the clients. After a brief interview, they retained our services.
Perez: Mr. Perez is an immigrant from Mexico who contacted our office last year. He was referred to us by Maria Pouncey. Mr. Perez, who had been a legal permanent resident for more than 20 years at the time, said he had not applied for citizenship because he was afraid to go for a test in the English language. We explained to him that because he was over 50 years old, and residing in the US with more than 20 years with his LPR, he could go for the test in his native language. We assisted him in filing the citizenship application and last month he passed the citizenship test. He has been scheduled to go for the oath ceremony next week.
During the time Mr. Perez was waiting for the citizenship test, he took advantage of the citizenship preparation classes we offered at CC’s office thanks to the efforts of the volunteers from the FSU College of Education. This is another example of community/agency partnerships. Our collaboration with PAEC and the FSU College of Education has been very beneficial for the community.
Santos Valentina: Ms. Valentina had filed a petition for alien relative more than five years ago. She retained our services to do an investigation. We wrote to the USCIS to inquire on the status of the petition but they could not provide us with a clear and definite answer. Again, we worked in collaboration with the office of Congressman Allan Boyd, and the petition got approved almost immediately.
*These three cases prove that partnerships are essential in the processing and expedition of cases with the USCIS. *