The four Korean American organizations including Korean
American Coalition-Washington State (KAC-WA) will hold a joint event that helps
Korean U.S. permanent residents with their naturalization applications free of
charge.
Under the lead of KAC-WA (President Joon Woo Lee,
Chairman Soona Kim), Korean American Bar Association (President Jessica Yu),
Korean Community Counseling Center (Director Joomi Kim), and Federal Way Korean
American Association (President Jae Wook Kim), the ‘Free Citizenship Workshop’
event will be held on December 5th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Asian
Counseling Referral Service (ACRS).
The event is in line with the programs of Washington New
Americans, which was established as a partnership between the State of
Washington and OneAmerica, a non-profit immigrant organization.
A pro bono attorney affiliated with the KABA and American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will assist attendees of the event to
navigate the citizenship process and to complete their applications for naturalization.
Applicants who are eligible to apply for naturalization
must be at least 18 years or older, a permanent resident for the past 5 years,
have not left the U.S. for trips of 6 months or longer (3 years for those who
married to a U.S. citizen), and must be physically present in the U.S. for 2
years and 6 months or longer during the past 5 years. The applicants who were
outside the U.S. for 1 year or longer are not eligible to apply for
naturalization.
Legal U.S. residents who would like to apply for
naturalization and that meet the aforementioned requirements can be assisted at the event venue with
the following documents; ▲Permanent Resident Card, ▲ a
list of residence and date of residence during the last 5 years, ▲ an
employment history with address and dates, ▲a list
of trips made outside the U.S., ▲ tax returns in the form of
a W-2, ▲ a check or money order for the naturalization fee of
$680 per person (fee waiver for low income applicants), ▲ an
identical photograph, etc.
KAC-WA Chairman Soona Kim stated “it normally costs over
$1,000 to get help in completing the naturalization applications from lawyers,”
and requested “Korean U.S. immigrants who have planned to apply for
naturalization should take advantage of this opportunity.”
Call: 877-926-3924, 425-776-2400, 206-228-3005
ACRS address: 3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S Seattle, WA 98144
