Announcement
The International Rescue Committee offers high-quality, low-cost immigration legal services and citizenship assistance in 23 cities across the United States—including right here in Tucson! Our Tucson office’s Immigration and Citizenship Services has been in operation for 19 years. With a long, successful track record, the IRC has gained the trust and respect of the immigrant community, becoming a go-to resource for immigration services provided by fully qualified IRC staff accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice's Board of Immigration Appeals.
Who we serve
We aim to ensure equal protection under the law and civic integration of refugees, asylees, and other immigrants by assisting them in obtaining critical immigration benefits. Our immigration services are open to anyone in the community who would like to apply for family reunification, lawful permanent residence, affidavits of relationship, and other immigration petitions necessary to receive legal residency in the United States and reunite family members.
Many of our clients arrived in the U.S. as refugees or asylees and are served by other IRC programs as well, but many others are members of the broader immigrant community here in Tucson or are seeking to reunite family or loved-ones who live abroad. Our services are open to anyone in the Tucson community! While many of the recipients of these immigration benefits are from Mexico or the Democratic Republic of Congo, our clients come from dozens of other countries around the world.
The IRC Tucson's Immigration team serves people that come from all over the world! We are always happy and humbled to serve such a wonderfully diverse immigrant community.
Many of these clients come with goals such as obtaining a Green Card or U.S. Citizenship, and so we assist clients in determining eligibility, providing appropriate proof for the application, and of course completing and filing the applications on their behalf with U.S. Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS).
What we do
Immigration Services directly assists clients with the processing and filing of applications for a variety of immigration benefits:
- The IRC assists refugees and immigrants in obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status (“Green Card”)
- We help qualified Lawful Permanent Residents apply for citizenship
- We help reunite refugee and asylee families who have been separated by war and conflict, and assist immigrants and U.S. citizens to petition for family members to come to the U.S.
- We support qualified low-income applicants in obtaining fee waivers from certain USCIS application fees
- We assist with applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals while supporting Comprehensive Immigration Reform to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
- We assist refugees, immigrants, and other qualified individuals with a range of other routine immigration matters, such as employment authorization, travel documents and document replacement
Along the way, we…
- Conduct community outreach to refugee and immigrant population
- Conduct initial intakes and eligibility interviews with clients
- Prepare and complete immigration applications and petitions
- Submit applications on client’s behalf to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
- Manage follow-up with USCIS, responding to requests for further evidence and inquiries
- Notify clients of USCIS interviews, ensuring they have required documents complete and available for the interview
In 2019, the program submitted 575 individual applications for various immigration benefits, including 209 citizenship applications!
IRC staff are accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice's Board of Immigration Appeals.
How you can access services
If you are interested in IRC Tucson's Immigration Services, you can reach us by calling 520.279.0020.
How you can help
Learn more about How Immigrants and Refugees Become U.S. Citizens.
Volunteer or Intern with us! We offer a variety of opportunities throughout the year. Volunteers and interns play an integral role in the IRC's efforts to provide quality comprehensive immigration services to refugees and other immigrant members of the Tucson community. Learn more about volunteer opportunities and internships.
