Some of our naturalization success stories

The immigrant journey from arrival to naturalization still makes the United States a beacon of freedom and opportunity in the world. APILO, through its various immigration services, helps these positive contributors and members of American society.

In the past ten years, APILO has provided extensive immigration legal services to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Specifically, APILO has targeted naturalization as a service that can make an impact on the API communities. There are approximately 50,000 green card holders each in Alameda and San Francisco counties who are eligible to naturalize. These are some of the thousands of people APILO has helped to naturalize:

ZZ is a 49 year old Pakistani female with a graduate degree. ZZ was a victim of domestic violence and had to break away from her ex-spouse’s family. ZZ was estranged from her own family because she dared to go against cultural norms and stand up for herself. ZZ moved to San Francisco to make a life for herself that was free of violence and male oppression. ZZ had low self-esteem because of the constant put downs by her ex-spouse and his family. ZZ is an intelligent, hard-working and accomplished woman. ZZ obtained her own housing and held down two jobs. She asked for our support to help her apply for naturalization. It was a proud moment for ZZ when she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen in July 2022. The key to ZZ’s success was her own motivation to achieve and the culturally competent support APILO provided to her as a victim of domestic violence.

CC and DD are an elderly Chinese couple who came to APILO’s collaborative citizenship events (San Francisco Pathways to Citizenship Initiative [SFPCI].) CC and DD are ages 91 and 88 respectively. They are retired. They are monolingual Cantonese speaking persons. CC and DD came to the event in wheelchairs. At the event, an APILO staff attorney took them under her wing and assisted them while making them comfortable in that setting. [Day long processing at citizenship workshops are especially difficult for frail seniors.] The attorney was able to help both CC and DD file their naturalization applications with fee waivers and disability waivers without delay.

XX is a 65 yr old Black male, from one of the small islands in the Caribbean. He has been a green card holder for over 40 years. He came to the U.S. while working on one of the cruise ships. XX is a long time SF resident. He wanted to become a U.S. citizen to vote because he was concerned about his college-aged children’s futures. One of the many things that discouraged XX from applying for citizenship was his criminal background of one arrest when he was in his twenties. Many immigrants, like XX, are hesitant to apply for naturalization because they think that having any criminal background makes them ineligible to become a U.S. citizen. After APILO’s guidance and representation, XX became a U.S. citizen over 45 years after he immigrated to the U.S. He thanked APILO with tears in his eyes.

YY is a 42 year old Filipino male and father of four children. He has lived in SF most of his life and works as a delivery driver. YY was reluctant to apply for naturalization during the Trump regime. APILO helped YY to understand and analyze his criminal history, filled out the required forms and accompanied YY to his naturalization interview. On a sunny day in late July 2022, YY became a U.S. citizen and was able to share this happy moment with his family.

BB is a 52 year old Mexican female living in San Francisco for most of her life. BB came to the United States at age 16 as a green card holder. She has lived in San Francisco since arriving in the United States in 1987. BB raised three children in San Francisco as a single mother. Once her children were grown, she needed and wanted to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. BB came to APILO asking for help with her application because she had some minor brushes with the law when she was a young woman. BB became motivated to naturalize because she really wanted to vote in the presidential elections. After the 2020 presidential election, BB contacted APILO. APILO helped her address her criminal history, fill out forms, obtained the fee waiver and accompanied BB to her naturalization interview. In February 2022, BB became a U.S. citizen. She is excited that she can now vote in the 2024 presidential elections.

Do you want to help our fellow community members become citizens? If so, you can volunteer at one of our naturalization events that APILO co-sponsors. In addition to contacting APILO directly, check out https://sfcitizenship.org for more information.