Lifting Barriers to Citizenship

In January 2018, the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) published new research on the financial barriers low-income immigrants face to becoming citizens. An innovative program, NaturalizeNY, developed in partnership with the New York State Office for New Americans and supported by Robin Hood and New York Community Trust, had a dramatic effect on naturalization rates among low-income New Yorkers: providing a fee voucher to cover the full cost of the application doubled the application rate.

The program offers a model for communities large and small that want to help immigrants to become citizens. For low-income immigrants (incomes between 150-300% of the federal poverty guidelines) who are not eligible for the full federal fee waiver, a fund could be established with public and private support to cover application fees. Read the research brief here, and see the infographic from IPL above. To learn more, visit the IPL’s webpage on the research here.