If you immigrated as a Special Agricultural Worker, it’s almost time to apply for naturalization without having to show English proficiency.

Question: Attorney, I fixed my papers as Special Agricultural Worker under the last amnesty program in the 80’s. I now want to become a US citizen. Please explain what I must do.

Answer: If you fixed your papers as a Special Agricultural Worker (SAW), now is a good time to get ready to apply for US citizenship. All those who fixed their papers as Special Agricultural Workers are residents of the United States as of December 1, 1990. Therefore, on December 1st of this year, you will complete twenty years as a lawful permanent resident alien. If you are at least fifty years of age and have twenty years as lawful permanent resident alien living in the United States, you don’t need to show any English proficiency when you take your naturalization exam. In other words, you will be asked questions about US history and Government in your native language. Questions like, “Who was the first president of the United States?” And you can answer in your native language that the fist president was George Washington. SAWs who are already fifty five years of age and have been resident aliens for at least fifteen years can take the exam in their native language now.

About a month after you submit your application for naturalization, you will be scheduled for a fingerprint appointment. Immigration will take your fingerprints and get a complete report showing all your arrests by the police or by Immigration. You always have to be careful when you submit something to Immigration or when you leave the United States and return because they will examine your police record and if you have certain criminal convictions, they may put you into removal proceedings. Remember that your resident alien card is like a conditional permit to be in the United States. You can stay here permanently as long as you obey the laws of the United States. But if you are committing crimes, in certain cases the Immigration Judge can take your green card away from you and order you deported to your home country. If you become a US citizen, of course, you can be put in jail for your crimes but you cannot be sent outside the United States.

A month after your fingerprints are taken you will have an interview at Immigration at which time the officer will verify that you have been living in the United States for the last twenty years so that you don’t need to show English proficiency, that you have been a resident alien all that time, and that you know the answers to the questions about US history and Government, that you have paid your taxes, that you don’t owe child support, that you never voted illegally in the United States, that you have never registered to vote illegally, etc. If you have problems in any of these areas, you should talk to an attorney specializing in this kind of case to make sure that it is a good idea to apply for citizenship.

If you pass your exam, you will be schedule for your naturalization ceremony usually a month after the exam. So, from start to finish is usually three to six months. If you are fifty years of age and want to take the exam in your native language and fixed your papers as Special Agricultural Worker, you must wait to submit application until December 1st 2010 when you will have completed the twenty years as a Resident Alien.

If you are already over fifty five and fixed your papers as Agricultural Worker, then you already meet the fifteen year requirement and can file application your application for citizenship today.

I encourage you to apply for citizenship, and when you become a citizen, to vote for candidates who will support immigration reform. The Immigration law we have now does no good for anybody.