A citizenship workshop is held in Tampa, Florida

Tampa, Florida – With the attendance of 55 participants, 25 volunteers from MIRA USA, the immigration officer from the USCIS office in Tampa María Rodriguez, and the immigration attorney Jorge Rivera, we held a successful citizenship workshop on Saturday, February 2, in the city of Tampa (Florida).

Thanks to this workshop, which brings together permanent residents of all nationalities in the United States who wish to become U.S. citizens, hundreds of people in Tampa Bay have overcame their fear of taking the step of beginning the naturalization process and taking their exam and interview.

And is that for many immigrants taking the step of sending their N-400 application and starting the naturalization process is a decision that splits their migration history in two. For many, holding a permanent resident card and having their work permit is sufficient, but after a certain period of time and given the changes in the immigration laws of the United States, it becomes imperative to take this next step. However, the fear of not speaking the English language perfectly or of not being able to learn the civics questions, becomes a barrier that for many is impossible to climb. In this sense, having knowledge of the process of naturalization and understanding what are the requirements to obtain citizenship, greatly reduces the size of that barrier and clears the way to begin to climb it.

to see images for the event click here

That is why MIRA USA with the support of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offers these workshops to clarify the process and give them the necessary tools to take this step. This information, along with a review of the questions of the N-400 application and practicing of the 100 civics questions  with our bilingual volunteers, prepares the participants to then take a mock interview. The purpose of the mock interview is to make an initial demonstration of the real interview so that the participants face their fears and go more calmly to their interview.

The success of this workshop is reflected in the gratitude, the smile, the motivation and the enthusiasm with which the participants say goodbye. Each one comes with a different story when arriving at the workshop, but all leave with the same conclusion: “thanks to MIRA USA I have the knowledge, the tools, and the motivation I need to either: 1. start the process, 2. send my application, or 3. attend my interview. “