Category: Immigration

American Tribute is sponsoring a 4th of July Contest

Make 2019 the year that you become a U.S. Citizen! American Tribute​ is sponsoring an Independence Day contest to have your #USCIS fees paid when you submit your application for naturalization. Make sure you read the complete rules before you enter!
• You must have “liked” the Facebook page of American Tribute.
• Enter by private messaging the Facebook page “American Tribute”. You must include contact information (email and phone number) and the phrase:
“I want to be an American.  The 4th of July is Independence Day!”
• Your entry must be in English.
• You must actually enter the contest – entries in previous contests are not automatically carried over.  Comments on Facebook posts are not an entry.
• You must be a permanent resident (have a green card), live in the United States, be able to read and speak English (unless you qualify for the English waiver), and are otherwise eligible to naturalize. Please check the USCIS web page to make sure that you are eligible. See https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-1 to determine if you are eligible to naturalize.
• You are ineligible for the contest if you have already filed your form N-400.
• You must not have a criminal record.
• You must have a completed form N-400 or have all the information necessary to complete one.  By entering the contest you agree to let our legal team review/prepare your request for naturalization.
A winner will be chosen by random drawing at 6 p.m. Central time on July 3, 2019. American Tribute will make every effort to announce the winner by noon Central time on the 4th of July, 2019. The winner will have until July 25, 2019 to confirm eligibility and help prepare N-400 paperwork. If the winner does not have a completed N-400 by July 25, 2019, the prize will expire. American Tribute reserves the right to select an alternate winner if the initial winner is ineligible.
This is not a cash prize – American Tribute will pay your USCIS fee and submit your form N-400 Application for Naturalization, but WILL NOT pay you any money directly. Any other costs (Passport Photos, Translations, Postage, Notary etc.) will be the responsibility of the winner.
In order to submit the filing fee, American Tribute will review your completed form, then attach the fee payment and mail the form to USCIS. This is done to ensure that the fees paid by American Tribute are sent in on a properly filled form for someone that is eligible to naturalize – fees are lost if the application is denied do to ineligibility. Therefore, electronic submission of the N-400 is not possible. The winner agrees to cooperate with the legal team of American Tribute to get the naturalization form properly filed, and all communications will be through the legal team. The winner will be responsible for providing the necessary documents to pursue naturalization.
The winner agrees to allow publication of their name and image on the American Tribute website and Facebook page, both after winning the contest and after they become a U.S. citizen.
This contest is not an offer of legal representation.
The prize is not transferable to another.
Determination of eligibility is subject to review and disqualification by the Project Manager.
American Tribute is a project of FCM Enterprises, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
#BecomeAUSCItizen #FCMEnterprises #ToBeAmerican #QuickCivicsLessons #NaturalizationTest #USCitizenship #USCIS 🇺🇸

23. Name your U.S. Representative.

Answers will vary. [Residents of territories with nonvoting Delegates or Resident Commissioners may provide the name of that Delegate or Commissioner. Also acceptable is any statement that the territory has no (voting) Representatives in Congress.]

For a complete list of U.S. representatives and the districts they represent, go to www.house.gov.

* Important Updates to the Naturalization Test
USCIS has revised the civics portion of the naturalization test. All applicants for naturalization with a filing date on or after December 1, 2020, will be required to take the 2020 version of the civics test.

The naturalization test has two components:
• English • Civics
The English portion has not changed.

** As you prepare for U.S. citizenship, Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons will help you study for the civics and English portions of the naturalization interview. There are 100 civics (history and government) questions on the naturalization test. During your naturalization interview, you will be asked up to 10 questions from the list of 100 questions. You must answer correctly six (6) of the 10 questions to pass the civics test.

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She is our Presidents Day’ Contest Winner

Our Presidents Day’ Contest Winner is is Dalila Prieto of El Paso!!
She will have her naturalization fees paid!!
Dalila is looking forward to the day she can raise his hand and be sworn in as a U.S. Citizen !!
What are you waiting for? Make 2019 the year that you “join the team” !!
Remember, American Tribute will have another contest for Independence Day!!
#AmericanTribute #BecomeAUSCItizen #FCMEnterprises #ToBeAmerican #QuickCivicsLessons #NaturalizationTest #USCitizenship #USCIS

100. Name two national U.S. holidays.

  • New Year’s Day
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Presidents’ Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Columbus Day
  • Veterans Day
  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas

Many Americans celebrate national or federal holidays. These holidays often honor people or events in our American heritage.

These holidays are “national” in a legal sense only for federal institutions and in the District of Columbia. Typically, federal offices are closed on these holidays. Each state can decide whether or not to celebrate the holiday. Businesses, schools, and commercial establishments may choose whether or not to close on these days.

Since 1971, federal holidays are observed on Mondays except for New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

* Important Updates to the Naturalization Test
USCIS has revised the civics portion of the naturalization test. All applicants for naturalization with a filing date on or after December 1, 2020, will be required to take the 2020 version of the civics test.

The naturalization test has two components:
• English • Civics
The English portion has not changed.

‘The American dream is real’: Once a desperate refugee, now a US Army general

By NANCY MONTGOMERY | STARS AND STRIPES Published: February 1, 2019

VICENZA, Italy — He was a penniless, traumatized Vietnamese teenager with a fifth-grade education when in 1980 he arrived in the U.S. He knew how to survive in the jungle, evade checkpoints and control the terror he often felt.

But he couldn’t speak more than a few words of English and had little practice in how to live a regular life.

Yet within seven years after his American arrival, Lap The Chau had a new name, a degree from the Virginia Military Institute and a career as “an officer in the greatest Army on Earth,” as he put it.

Brig. Gen. Lapthe Flora, as he’s now known, is deputy commander of U.S. Army Africa and assistant adjutant general of the Virginia National Guard.

He is thought to be the only Vietnamese “boat person” to become a general officer in the U.S. military.

Lapthe C. Flora is promoted to brigadier general at the National D-Day Memorial June 6, 2016, in Bedford, Va.
COTTON PURYEAR/VIRGINIA NATIONAL GUARD

“After what I went through, practically death, and then somebody gives you that opportunity to live again, I can only say from my own perspective that I’m very grateful for what this country has done for me,” Flora said in an interview with Stars and Stripes.

Flora, who in civilian life is an engineer holding several patents on night-vision goggles, has recounted his unlikely story many times.

“The possibility in this great nation is boundless; the American Dream is real, only if you dare to pursue it with laser-focused hard work and perseverance,” Flora said in speech when he was promoted to brigadier general more than two years ago.

He has also showed appreciation for those who helped upon his arrival in America.

“There’s no one who can get to where they are on their own. You need help,” he said in a 2017 talk at the Raleigh Court United Methodist Church in Roanoke, Va.

Audrey and Jack Flora, from Roanoke, Va., adopted Lap The Chau.
COURTESY LAPTHE FLORA

The church had sponsored him and several family members in 1980.

“We had a house for them. They came with nothing,” said Sharon Alexi, a former kindergarten teacher active in the church, who helped settle the 11-member Chau family.

She helped teach Flora and his brother English and how to drive.

“They caught on very quickly,” she said. “It was fun. It was a joy.”

A couple in the congregation were so taken with Flora that they adopted him when they were in their 60s and he was either 21 or 23; his birthdate is uncertain.

“People thought they were crazy,” Flora said. “But they took me in.”

Postwar exodus

Flora is among 800,000 people who fled Vietnam by sea starting in 1975 in an international humanitarian crisis that took years to resolve. The exodus reached its height in 1978, when some 5,800 refugees a month were landing in Asian countries increasingly unwilling to accept them and an untold number were dying at sea.

President Jimmy Carter responded by ordering U.S. ships to the rescue, then doubled the number of refugees accepted into the U.S. from 7,000 to 14,000 a month, despite polls showing a majority of Americans disapproved.

“I benefited greatly from the U.S.’s decision to accept me into this country,” Flora said. “I’m extremely grateful for the circumstances that led to my citizenship.”

Flora declined to imagine what might have become of him had the Carter administration decided not to accept Vietnamese refugees.

Brig. Gen. Lapthe Flora and his wife, Thuy — pictured with their daughter Christine — were both Vietnamese refugees when they arrived in the U.S.
COURTESY LAPTHE FLORA

In the end, nearly all of his family arrived in the U.S., including his future wife, his mother and a long-lost sister who’d been given up for adoption in Vietnam.

“I don’t like to think about hypothetical paths my life could’ve taken,” Flora said. “Instead, I focus on the future and my ability to give back whenever possible and sharing my story to inspire others.”

That story includes many early hardships and eventual triumphs.

When he was 2, his merchant marine father was killed in a mortar attack, Flora said. The death plunged the ethnic Chinese family into poverty so severe that his mother gave her infant daughter to another couple.

At 11, as the Vietnam War raged throughout the countryside, Flora worked as a live-in servant at a factory. That ended on April 30, 1975, when the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong captured Saigon, South Vietnam’s capital, ending the war and turning all of Vietnam into a socialist, one-party state.

The new communist government instituted “re-education camps” and other repressive measures against political opponents and those who had collaborated with the Americans.

The boy who would become U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Lapthe Flora, left, poses with his family in Vietnam. All of them eventually fled the country as refugees.
COURTESY LAPTHE FLORA

Flight to freedom

Flora and two brothers fled the fallen capital, renamed Ho Chi Minh City, where they were at risk for military conscription. Hiding in the countryside for three years, he said, they survived on crops they planted and animals they hunted, including lizards and porcupines.

The brothers were sometimes frightened and often hungry, but they were also free.

“We sang in the middle of the night,” Flora said. “It was kind of fun.”

His escape came after a sister and brother-in-law in 1979 secured 11 spots for the family on a cramped, fetid fishing boat. The terrifying voyage lasted five horrible days and nights, he said, with little food or water, vulnerable to storms, shipwreck and pirates. A toddler on board died before they landed in Indonesia.

“We knew there was less than a 50 percent chance of survival,” Flora said. “Desperation, destitution will drive people to do anything.”

Lap The Chau was a destitute teenager in 1979 when he escaped Vietnam as a ”boat person” and was photographed at an Indonesian refugee camp. He’s now Brig. Gen. Lapthe Flora.
COURTESY LAPTHE FLORA

Much of his family settled in California, which along with Texas, accepted the most Vietnamese refugees.

But he preferred Roanoke and life with his adoptive family, Jack and Audrey Flora.

He graduated from high school in three years, while working part-time bagging groceries, and was accepted to VMI.

He took to the spartan school, his adoptive father’s alma mater, saying it reminded him of his early schooling in Vietnam.

He’s encountered little discrimination since coming to the U.S., he said, and any slights are easily ignored.

“You feel sorry for their narrow-mindedness,” Flora said.

From the start of his military career, Lapthe Flora made an impression. As a young lieutenant with the 116th Infantry Regiment in 1991, when Capt. Eric Barr met him, it was clear it wasn’t just his backstory that made him unique.

Lapthe Flora took to the rigors of the Virginia Military Institute, saying the military academy reminded him of his strict elementary schooling in Vietnam. He is pictured here as a cadet in an undated photo.
COURTESY LAPTHE FLORA

“It just jumped out at me that Lapthe was one of the most professional, squared-away officers,” Barr said. “It was just obvious he knew his business.”

On a 2007 deployment to Kosovo, “whenever something really tough came up, Lapthe was known as the go-to person,” said Barr, now a retired colonel.

“Where it really stood out, he had so much credibility with the Serbs and the Albanians because they knew he had lived their lives,” Barr said. “He had been through the same hell they had been through.”

#BecomeAUSCItizen #FCMEnterprises #ToBeAmerican #QuickCivicsLessons#NaturalizationTest #USCitizenship #USCIS

Be part of our Presidents’ Day Contest!

Make 2019 the year that you become a U.S. Citizen! American Tribute is sponsoring a “Presidents’ Day” contest to have your USCIS fees paid when you submit your application for naturalization. Make sure you read the complete rules before you enter!

• You must have “liked” the Facebook page of American Tribute.
• Enter by private messaging the Facebook page “American Tribute”. You must include contact information (email and phone number) and the phrase:
“I want to be an American, just like President ___________!” in the message. You can choose to insert the name of any of the 45 American Presidents.
• You must actually enter the contest – entries in previous contests are not automatically carried over.
• You must be a permanent resident (have a green card), live in the United States, and are otherwise eligible to naturalize. Please check the USCIS web page to make sure that you are eligible. See https://www.uscis.gov/…/citizenship-thr…/path-us-citizenship to determine if you are eligible to naturalize.
• You are ineligible for the contest if you have already filed your form N-400.
• You must not have a criminal record.
• You must have a completed form N-400 or have all the information necessary to complete one.
A winner will be chosen by random drawing at 6 p.m. Central time on February 17, 2019 (the day before “Presidents’ Day”). American Tribute will make every effort to announce the winner by 4 pm Central time on Presidents’ Day. The winner will have until March 1, 2019 to confirm eligibility and help prepare N-400 paperwork. If the winner does not have a completed N-400 by March 1, 2019, the prize will expire. American Tribute reserves the right to select an alternate winner if the initial winner is ineligible.
This is not a cash prize – American Tribute will pay your USCIS fee to submit your form N-400 Application for Naturalization, but WILL NOT pay you any money directly. Any other costs (Passport Photos, Translations, Postage, Notary etc.) will be the responsibility of the winner.
In order to submit the filing fee, American Tribute will review your completed form, then attach the fee payment and mail the form to USCIS. This is done to ensure that the fees paid by American Tribute are sent in on a properly filled out form for someone that is eligible to naturalize – fees are lost if the application is denied do to ineligibility. Therefore, electronic submission of the N-400 is not possible. The winner agrees to cooperate with the legal team of American Tribute to get the naturalization form properly filed, and all communications will be through the legal team. The winner will be responsible for providing the necessary documents to pursue naturalization.
The winner agrees to allow publication of their name and image on the American Tribute website and Facebook page, both after submitting their form and after they become a U.S. citizen.
This contest is not an offer of legal representation.
Determination of eligibility is subject to review by the Project Manager.
American Tribute is a project of FCM Enterprises, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
#BecomeAUSCItizen #FCMEnterprises #ToBeAmerican#QuickCivicsLessons #NaturalizationTest #USCitizenship #USCIS 🇺🇸

 

100. Name two national U.S. holidays.

  • New Year’s Day
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Presidents’ Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Columbus Day
  • Veterans Day
  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas

Many Americans celebrate national or federal holidays. These holidays often honor people or events in our American heritage.

These holidays are “national” in a legal sense only for federal institutions and in the District of Columbia. Typically, federal offices are closed on these holidays. Each state can decide whether or not to celebrate the holiday. Businesses, schools, and commercial establishments may choose whether or not to close on these days.

Since 1971, federal holidays are observed on Mondays except for New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

USCIS: Civics Test Answer Updates

Are you preparing for the naturalization test? As you study for the U.S. history and government (civics) test, make sure that you know the most current answers to these questions.

Periodically, answers to the civics test change to reflect the results of federal and state elections and appointments or to clarify content and ensure consistency in terminology. The revised answers to the questions below are effective immediately.

Question Update
20. Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now? The answer to this question may change as the result of elections, appointments, or retirements.

Give the name of one of your state’s current U.S. senators. For a list of current members of the U.S. Senate, please visit senate.gov.

Answers will vary. [District of Columbia residents and residents of U.S. territories should answer that D.C. (or the territory where the applicant lives) has no U.S. senators.]

23. Name your U.S. Representative. The answer to this question may change as the result of elections, appointments, or retirements.

Give the name of your current U.S. representative. For a list of current members of the U.S. House of Representatives, please visit house.gov.

Answers will vary. [Residents of territories with nonvoting delegates or resident commissioners may provide the name of that delegate or commissioner. Also acceptable is any statement that the territory has no (voting) representatives in Congress.]

43. Who is the Governor of your state now? The answer to this question may change as the result of elections, appointments, or retirements, depending on inauguration dates.

Give the name of your state’s current governor. For a list of current governors, please visit usa.gov/states-and-territories

Answers will vary. [District of Columbia residents should answer that D.C. does not have a governor.]

47. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now? The House of Representatives generally elects the speaker of the House on the first day of every new Congress. The answer to this question may change after the election.

Give the name of the current speaker of the House. Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdatesfor the name of the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Last Reviewed/Updated:

Billy Idol is officially a United States citizen.

Billy Idol is officially a United States citizen.

The British rocker joined a naturalization ceremony on Wednesday (Nov. 14), holding an American flag.

“It’s a nice day for a naturalization ceremony. Congratulations Billy Idol on becoming a #NewUScitizen today in Los Angeles, CA,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services tweeted, along with some photos from the ceremony.

Some requirement of becoming a naturalized citizen, according to USCIS’ website, include “Be a permanent resident (have a ‘Green Card’) for at least 5 years; be able to read, write, and speak basic English; be a person of good moral character; and demonstrate an attachment to the principles and ideals of the U.S. Constitution.”

#BecomeAUSCItizen #FCMEnterprises #ToBeAmerican #QuickCivicsLessons#NaturalizationTest #USCitizenship #USCIS

USCIS Using Tablets to Administer the English Reading and Writing Tests for Naturalization

USCIS Using Tablets to Administer the English Reading and Writing Tests for Naturalization

Versión en Español

On Oct. 1, USCIS began using digital tablets to administer the English reading and writing tests during naturalization interviews as part of the agency’s ongoing business modernization efforts. Although USCIS applicants already use digital tablets to sign or verify parts of their applications, this new approach expands tablet usage, allowing the device to be used for a greater portion of the application process. USCIS will be able to continue using the paper process on a case-by-case basis.
While the eligibility requirements and the subject material of the naturalization test have not changed, applicants are now using a stylus on a digital tablet instead of a paper application. Immigration Services Officers (ISO) will carefully instruct applicants on how to use the tablets before administering the tests:

For the reading test, a sentence will appear on the tablet and the ISO will ask the applicant to read it.
For the writing test, several lines will appear on the tablet, replicating the appearance of a piece of blank paper. The ISO will read a sentence aloud and ask the applicant to write it on the tablet.
Applicants will continue to take the civics test verbally, without the tablet.

Last Reviewed/Updated: 10/03/2018

Source: https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-using-tablets-administer-english-reading-and-writing-tests-naturalization