INS Concedes Errors on Citizenship Applications

The Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles acknowledged Thursday that officials had mistakenly suspended the applications of some 2,500 citizenship-seekers in recent weeks who were wrongly directed to pay $130 in additional fees.

In fact, the INS said, all affected applicants had submitted their applications before Jan. 15, when the fee rose from $95 to $225, and do not owe additional money.

Recipients are to receive letters explaining the error and assuring them that the applications will be processed. The INS blamed a computer problem.

In addition, the INS said a separate printing mishap had resulted in erroneous and illegible notices being sent to some 10,000 successful citizenship applicants in recent months. The mailers alerting these applicants of the date and time of their oath-taking ceremonies were too faint to read, causing some to miss the final act necessary to become a U.S. citizen.

Anyone who has received an illegible notice may call an INS hotline--(213) 894-0422, or (213) 894-2802--to find out when and where to attend their scheduled oath-taking. However, those staffing the hotline are English-speaking only, the INS said, so non-English speakers should have someone to translate.

INS District Director Thomas J. Schiltgen apologized for the mistakes, the latest to plague a citizenship process that has been marred by delays and other problems. Los Angeles tops the nation in citizenship applications.