Disability May Open Doors to Citizenship : Rule Allows Impaired Applicants to Skip INS Test

Going into her U.S. citizenship exam two years ago, Bach Le knew she wasn’t going to pass.

The pessimism--and, indeed, her eventual failure--stemmed from her medical problems. At the time, Le was 74 and suffered chronic migraines that she said impaired her memory. Further, she could barely say “yes” or “no” in English because her condition, now exacerbated by a stroke three months ago, hampered her ability to learn the language.

But with the recent passage of welfare reform, it has become more critical, Le said, that she become a citizen so that she will not lose her federal public assistance benefits, a threat faced by most immigrants under the new law.

Now, through a little-known federal regulation passed by Congress two years ago and expected to take effect in a couple of months, the Santa Ana resident has a slim chance of becoming a U.S. citizen.

The obscure rule would, among other things, allow people with a physical, developmental or mental disability to skip the citizenship exam if they can provide an INS-designated doctor’s certification demonstrating that their condition makes it impossible for them to pass the test.

For individuals to qualify for exemption from the exam, which requires knowledge of English and U.S. history and government, an INS officer must agree with the doctor’s assessment following an interview with the applicant.

The implementation of the law can’t come soon enough for immigrants such as Le, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1984. “I am old and not in good health,” she said. “This program would be very helpful and it is my last hope to become a citizen.”

INS officials estimate about 300,000 people nationwide will apply for the exemption from the written and oral test.

Advocates with community-based organizations say many of those who would apply are likely to be seniors who, because of their age and health problems, would not be able to learn adequate English to pass the exam. However, the waiver is available to all those over age 18 who are qualified.

Not all disabled people would qualify for the waiver; blind people, for example, must still take a Braille version of the exam.

“This law will help those who are so severely disabled that they will not be able to take or pass the test,” said Brian Jordan, an INS spokesman in Washington. “But they have to prove it, and the process is not easy.”

The administration of the process may prove to be difficult for the INS as well.

The Technical Corrections Act of 1994, in which the waiver provision was included, has not been implemented because the law did not define “physical and developmental disability” and “mental impairment.” In the past two years, INS officials have sought consultation with immigrant advocates and medical experts to draft the guidelines and procedures for determining who qualifies for the exemption.

The INS expects to finalize the policy in January.

But already immigrants are preparing to seek the exemption.

Minh Dinh Vu, one of 36 INS-approved physicians in Orange County, has seen three or four people a day referred to him in the past three months by social services agencies that run citizenship programs.

“The general profile of the patients is that they are old, in their 70s and 80s, and many of them have had a stroke,” Vu said. Only about 10% of those he has seen did not qualify for certification, he said.

Because not enough information about the program is available, immigrant advocates said, many elderly immigrants falsely believe that their age alone could qualify them.

To correct this impression, community leaders have educated themselves about the exemption and made it a focus in their citizenship programs, especially after President Clinton signed into law the welfare overhaul bill in August. A key provision of the bill, estimated to save the federal government up to $56 billion over six years, would eliminate Supplemental Security Income for legal immigrants.

That aspect of the bill is expected to have dramatic impact in the Vietnamese community, where many of those who collect welfare receive SSI, which provides cash assistance for the elderly, disabled and blind. Of the 880 immigrants who receive SSI in the county, 95% are Vietnamese.

Since October, more than 100 people have applied for the waiver through the Vietnamese Community of Orange County, a Santa Ana-based social services organization that works with the community’s seniors.

“The proposal has yet to be approved, and we have already taken applications,” said Anh Nguyen, who directs the agency’s senior program. “Everyone just wants to be prepared.”

Uong Thi Quy, 84, suffers from chronic headaches and high blood pressure. Even she said she doesn’t know if she could meet the INS criteria for the exemption.

Nevertheless, she has filled out an application for the waiver and has seen a doctor for the required examination. “I really don’t know if I am qualified,” said Quy, who came to the U.S. in 1990, “but I don’t know what else to do.”

“I am too old to learn English,” she said, adding that she is currently taking an English-as-a-second-language course to prepare for the citizenship test but remembers little of what is taught in the class. “But without English, how could I pass the test?”

While Quy and others in her predicament worry about their ability to pass the naturalization test, community advocates have expressed concerns that the immigrants, in their desperation to save their threatened benefits, may fall victim to scam artists and unscrupulous lawyers.

Generally, the total cost of the U.S. naturalization examination is about $150. The cost for the processing of the disability waiver is $145, not including the doctors’ fees, which range between $100 and $160.

Community leaders said some immigration lawyers and businesses that process immigration applications have run advertisements in community newspapers that included processing and testing fees several times the standard amount.

“There is so much misinformation out there,” said Nam Loc Nguyen, director of the immigration and refugees department with the Los Angeles office of Catholic Charities, a national social services organization. “I have heard that in the Vietnamese community, there are some people who are advertising their services--to help people get the waiver--for up to $3,000.”

Immigration lawyers said their fees are standard charges for such legal services.

“I believe that our charges are fair, given the time we put in,” said David Hirson, an immigration attorney in Irvine whose fees run from $500 to $1,000 and include accompanying immigrants to their interview with INS officials.

Le, the 76-year-old who failed her citizenship test two years ago, said she would not mind paying the legal costs--if successful results were guaranteed.

“I would lose so much,” she said, if her SSI benefits, which combined with her husband’s total $1,100 a month, are eliminated. “Becoming a citizen is my only hope. But what can I do if I know I cannot pass the test. This program is the only thing I can turn to now.”

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer David Reyes.