The PR government office that helps you fill in immigration forms

It is a Puerto Rico government office that helps with federal processes. That combination confuses many people, so it is worth being clear: the office does not decide your immigration case and does not grant you status. The decider is US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency. What the office does is what comes before that: orient you, help you complete the right form, refer you and follow up on your case. And it offers the other side of the matter, which is preparation: literacy, conversational English, fourth-year equivalency under Act 217, and civic education for the citizenship test. For many families, that combination of paperwork help plus classes is exactly what is missing.

The act creating the office is addressed to foreign persons residing in Puerto Rico, and its mission speaks of providing tools to foreign citizens residing in Puerto Rico to facilitate their full integration into society, with emphasis on education, health and socioeconomic development. The page publishes no income, immigration status or document requirements for receiving guidance. The requirements it does publish are those for naturalisation, which are federal and not this office’s: being 18 or over; having five years of permanent residence, or three if married to and living with a US citizen; having good moral character; and not exceeding 915 days — 30 months — outside United States territory in the last five years.

• Being a foreign person residing in Puerto Rico: that is the public Act No. 254 of 28 October 2002 addresses the office to.Verified against the official source
• For naturalisation, per what the office publishes: being 18 or over, five years of permanent residence — or three if married to and living with a US citizen —, good moral character, and not exceeding 915 days (30 months) outside United States territory in the last five years.Verified against the official source

• Citizenship Application, form N-400, which the office assists in completing.
• Fee Waiver Request, form I-912.
• Green Card Replacement, form I-90.
• Change of Address, form AR-11.

1. 1

   Step 1: Know which forms they can help you complete

   The page lists four by name and number: the Citizenship Application (N-400), the Fee Waiver Request (I-912), Green Card Replacement (I-90) and Change of Address (AR-11). Arriving knowing which you need saves time. If you do not know, that is precisely the kind of guidance the office says it offers.

2. 2

   Step 2: Ask about the I-912 before assuming you cannot afford it

   Of the four forms the office names, the one fewest people know is the I-912, the fee waiver request. It exists precisely for those who cannot pay an immigration filing fee, and having a Puerto Rico government office assist you in completing it removes the most common barrier. If cost is what has stopped you, ask about that form by its number.

3. 3

   Step 3: Use the classes too, not just the paperwork

   The office says it offers guidance on literacy, fourth-year equivalency under Act 217, conversational English courses and civic education for citizenship. That last one prepares for the history and civics test. For many people the obstacle is not the form but the test and the language, and those two pieces are in the same office.

4. 4

   Step 4: If your case is urgent, ask them to follow up

   Among the functions the page lists are channelling urgent immigrant cases and following up until they are resolved, and making referrals. One of the office’s stated objectives is establishing efficient working relations with the Consular Corps accredited in Puerto Rico, which matters if your matter goes through your consulate. Another is monitoring compliance with the provisions protecting the rights of immigrant citizens in Puerto Rico.

5. 5

   Step 5: Confirm anything federal with USCIS

   The naturalisation requirements the office publishes — 18 or over, five years of permanent residence or three if married to and living with a citizen, good moral character, and not exceeding 915 days outside the territory in the last five years — are federal rules. So are the conditions the page describes for taking the interview in the language of your choice: fifty years of age and twenty or more with permanent residence; fifty-five and fifteen or more with permanent residence; or sixty-five and twenty or more with permanent residence, in which case the page says you need learn only twenty history and civics questions. This guide reproduces them as what they are, what the Puerto Rico office publishes, and tells you to confirm them with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which sets them and changes them.

The Immigrant Orientation and Services Office is attached to Puerto Rico’s Department of State, and its information is published in the Immigrant Services section of estado.pr.gov. The page does not publish in that text a physical address, telephone or hours, so look them up at the Department of State before going. The forms the office helps you complete belong to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and it is that federal agency that receives and decides them.

• Believing this office decides your immigration case: the decider is US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
• Not asking about the I-912 fee waiver when cost is what is stopping you.
• Reading the page literally and thinking an English course is a legal requirement for citizenship: it is a text-assembly error.
• Relying on the federal periods the page reproduces without confirming them with USCIS, which sets them.
• Going without first looking up the address, telephone and hours, which the page does not publish.
• Using only the form help and not the civics courses, when the test is the real obstacle for many people.
• Not mentioning that your case is urgent, when the office says it channels and follows up on such cases.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico

  Departamento de Estado

  www.estado.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Department of State

  estado

  www.estado.pr.gov