Boys & Girls Club hosts Citizenship Days

When Trinidad natives Manny and Summin Deonarine went to the South Queens Boys & Girls Club on Saturday, February 17, they found everything they needed - all of the paperwork for Summin to become an American citizen and help from attorneys and paralegals to fill out the forms.
The Queens Citizenship Day, sponsored by the South Queens Boys & Girls Club and Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, was the first event in a series of three workshops - also on Saturdays March 3 and March 24 - geared towards helping local immigrants become citizens. Running from noon to 3 p.m., the Club had 20 paralegals and attorneys — all volunteers from the City Bar Justice Center - on hand to go through naturalization documents.
For the Deonarines, Richmond Hill residents, the event provided a helping hand in filling out the paperwork for Summin’s citizenship. Manny, who had emigrated 22 years ago, had become a U.S. citizen soon after and wanted a lawyer to look over the documents’ intricate wording.
“We found out that we didn’t have all of the requirements yet, and we still need to go back and find out some dates,” Manny said while waiting to speak with Attorney Joseph Paldino.
“For some, it’s just the comfort level of having an attorney help you fill out the paperwork,” Paldino said.
As part of the 10-page application for naturalization, candidates must list dates when they have left the United States and the length of their stays in other countries. Applicants must also answer a series of 39 Yes or No questions about past military service, morals, arrest record, political affiliation and tax history.
These questions - which range from queries about whether a candidate worked for the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930s and 1940s to whether they helped another immigrant enter the country illegally - sometimes confuse applicants, said Tracey Goldberg, a paralegal with the City Bar Justice Center.
One of the most common questions immigrants ask is how long they must be in the United States before they can apply for citizenship, Goldberg said, explaining that for most the time required is five years, but those married to U.S. citizens can apply after three years of legal residence in the country.
“When they don’t qualify — if they are only here for two years and they need to be here for three — we send them home with a packet with the application and tell them to come back when they are ready,” Goldberg said.
Once candidates fill out the application form and send it in with a $400 check, they are scheduled to take a test on U.S. history, documents, and laws.
Bibi Razack, the Manager of Special Events & Projects for the South Queens Boys & Girls Club, pointed out that the citizenship application fee is expected to rise soon.
“We are trying to get the word out right now,” Razack said of the Citizenship Days events. “The immigrant community is a very hardworking community. They should be able to apply now when the fee is at its most affordable.”
For more information about the Citizenship Days and to register for the event, call the South Queens Boys & Girls Club at 718-441-6050. The Club is located at 110-04 Atlantic Avenue in Richmond Hill and is accessible by the A and J trains to 111th Street and the Q24 and Q37 buses.