Approximately 10 Fairhaven College and Western students will volunteer as paralegals for Bellingham’s first Citizenship Day, a program meant to help U.S. immigrants become U.S. citizens Saturday Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Fairhaven and Western students have volunteered previous years in Mount Vernon, but will help with the event at Bellingham Technical college this year.

Citizenship Day, created by the Washington New Americans Program, OneAmerica and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, is an event where paralegals, lawyers and interpreters work together to provide free assistance to those wishing to apply for U.S. citizenship.

 “This program is an attempt to streamline the path to citizenship,” said Charlie McAteer, communications manager for OneAmerica.

Scott Railton, the attorney site coordinator for the event, said the applications are long and complicated and can be intimidating for those who speak English as a second language, or little English at all.

Without this free service many would need to seek out and pay for their own attorney, Railton said, which in addition to the $675 in application fees, could be expensive.

Saturday’s event will involve several different rooms and steps.

Each client first meets with a paralegal in order to fill out and discuss the application. The paralegal also flags anything that might be of concern when applying, which is then looked over by one of the immigration attorneys.

Fairhaven College’s Center for Law, Diversity and Justice partnered up with Railton to work with and train students to act as paralegals at the event.  

Railton requires students fill out their own naturalization forms, read a 70-page manual and attend an afternoon training session in order to prepare themselves to act as paralegals.
Although many students do it strictly as volunteer work, students could also receive one credit as an independent study course.  

Railton said one of his favorite parts of the event is working with the students. He said the event offers good legal experience for Western and Fairhaven students, especially those wishing to go on to law school.

After clients spends one-on-one time with a paralegal and has finished the application, they meet with a full-time immigration lawyer.

During this step, the lawyer looks over the application, taking note of the sections flagged by the paralegal, and offers advice on whether or not to file.

Railton said it is not uncommon for lawyers to advise a client not to apply because of missing criteria or required materials. He said sometimes certain information, such as a criminal record, could put the client at risk for deportation, in which case the lawyer would recommend not applying.

Railton said part of the process includes a basic English language requirement, an American history and civics test, requirements as far as amount of time spent in the U.S and  showing good moral character.

The client cannot have left the U.S. for any extended period of time in the last five years, or three years if married to a U.S. citizen.

Railton said he has heard of applications being turned down because of items as small as being on probation for a traffic violation.

The application process takes approximately six months to a year, but Railton said he has had applicants wait for as long as four years to receive approval. 

Niall Ó Murchú, Fairhaven professor and community site coordinator for the event, said the entire process on Saturday takes approximately two hours per person, depending on how many people show up as both participants and volunteers.

Western junior Alex Rolnick, a volunteer paralegal for the event, said based on previous years, he expects approximately 40 total volunteers.

This is Rolnick’s second year volunteering at such an event.

“It’s just really a great experience to see the effects of actually helping people do something that’s really important to them in their lives,” Rolnick said.

Rolnick recounted helping a Filipino woman his first year.

“It was really cool to see how thankful she was that this was a program that was offered,” Rolnick said.

On Oct. 24 there will also be Citizenship Day events taking place in Pasco, Centralia and Port Angeles, and more to follow throughout the year in various cities statewide.

McAteer said undocumented residents are welcome to come and ask questions, but are not eligible for naturalization services.

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