Immigration News 2015: Miami Dolphins to Air Ads Encouraging Potential New U.S. Citizens
Permanent residents eligible to become U.S. citizens will soon get some encouragement from the Miami Dolphins to file the required paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The Florida football team plans to air public service announcements from New American Workforce and the New Americans Campaign, in both English and Spanish, that urge immigrants to take the final step of integration into American society, the National Immigration Forum announced.
The English-language commercials will be broadcast in English on Finsiders 940 AM and during the game's live stream on the Dolphins' website, while the Spanish-language group will air on 1210 AM and during the game's live stream on the local ESPN website, the advocacy group detailed.
"Through our partnership with the Miami Dolphins, we've been able to work together to help hundreds of their employees through the citizenship process," said Jennie Murray, the organization's director of integration programs.
"These (public service announcements) are a great opportunity to expand those opportunities to other Miami residents and highlight the many benefits citizenship brings," he said. "Together with the Miami Dolphins, we're helping immigrants get the opportunities, skills and status they need to succeed."
Most legal permanent residents can apply for citizenship if they have held a Green Card for at least five years and pass a naturalization test, which consists of English, U.S. history and civics portions, USCIS detailed.
But while obtaining U.S. citizenship is the most important goal for many immigrants, some Americans actually take steps to give up their nationality, Vocativ reported. In the third quarter of 2015 alone, a record 1,426 citizens chose to expatriate, according to data recently released by the Federal Register.
The move is often due to the fact that Americans living abroad have always had to file taxes or face heavy fines or even imprisonment.
And expatriates' financial reporting requirements have been further complicated because of the so-called Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted in 2010, which allows the U.S. government to request from foreign banks the financial account information of all individuals with ties to the United States, the website explained.
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