N.Y. help if you can’t afford citizenship fee

GOV. CUOMO has announced the second phase of the state’s NaturalizeNY program that pays the filing fees for qualified New Yorkers. The program, managed by the state Office for New Americans, helps applicants who are low-income but earn too much to qualify for a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee waiver. USCIS will waive your naturalization filing fee if you are receiving income-based public assistance, you are facing short-term financial hardship, or if your household income is no more than 150% of the federal poverty guidelines. If your household income is between 150% and 300% of the poverty level, you can enter a lottery to have your fee paid.

To check online and see if you are eligible to naturalize and whether you qualify for the lottery, go to NaturalizeNY.org. You can also get help with your entry by calling (800) 566-7636. The lottery registration ends July 28, and the winners will be announced in early April and referred to state websites for help in filing for naturalization. What kind of visa can I get to travel to the United States to marry my U.S. citizen fiancée? She and I met on Facebook about a year ago and we chat with each other on a daily basis, including by video call.

QEbenezer, Nigeria Unless your fiancée has a good reason why she cannot travel to Nigeria to meet you in person, it’s unlikely you can get a visa to come to the United States. You can try to get a visitor’s visa, but given your intent to marry a U.S. citizen, the U.S. consul will likely deny that request. You can get a fiancée visa, but first, you two must have had a face-to-face meeting in the two years prior to her filing a petition for you. USCIS can waive the meeting requirement, but only if the U.S. citizen now can’t travel for health reasons or meeting before the wedding would violate the couple’s customs, religion or culture. If your fiancée travels to Nigeria, she can either marry you there and petition for a green card for you, or file USCIS form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé or Fiancée.

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