People like Rosol Kadhim from Iraq and dozens of immigrants and refugees have attended an informational meeting that was hosted by the World Relief in the Quad Cities III. A whole line of families and couples waited for help at the Martin Luther King Jr Community Center in order to prepare an application for US citizenship.
This marks the center’s first initiative of this kind, pairing immigrants and refugees with volunteers who assisted them with reading and understanding every single page of the long application. The initiative was sponsored by a grant from the New Americas initiative.
“There was one family, we tried to help them, but they can’t understand us,” says the Director of World Relief, Amy Rowel, who notes that because of the language barrier that family “won’t understand the questions in the interview.”
Kadhim has been living in the United States now for four years and six months and currently resides in Rock Island together with her husband and their two children. Immigrants have to live in the United States for five years before they can apply for US citizenship.
Before they apply, immigrants should concentrate on improving their language skills and learning about the history and government of the United States in order to ensure a smoother application process. Families or individuals who bring along a friend who is American are likely to have a greater degree of success at events such as the one held at the Martin Luther King Jr Community Center.