October 20, 2004

Action Alert
Help Disabled and Elderly Refugees

Note: Documents on this page or in this section may be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. In order to read them, you require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is downloadable free from Adobe.

DID YOU KNOW ??

1. If you are a refugee who arrived in the U.S. on August 22, 1996 or after, and you are disabled, you will have only 7 years to become a U.S. citizen,* or you will lose all of your Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
2. If you are a refugee who arrived in the U.S. at any time, and you reach the age of 65 on August 22, 1996 or after, you will lose your SSI benefits after 7 years unless you become a U.S. citizen.*
3. Becoming a U.S. citizen takes many years and is difficult, especially for elderly and disabled refugees.
4. Refugees with SSI often have no other form of financial support.

The White House, along with many members of the U.S. Congress, are trying to extend the SSI limit for refugees from 7 years to 9 years. Many think this is a temporary solution, but better than nothing.

IF YOU THINK THIS IS IMPORTANT YOU CAN:

1. Call or e-mail your member of Congress and tell them you care about this issue, which is included in bills called HR 4035 and S.2623. You can find contact information for your members of Congress at http://www.house.gov/ and http://www.senate.gov/.
2. Use the sign-on letter provided in PDF format for viewing RTF format for easy changing. Contact Luis Campillo by email at campillo@nilc-dc.org for more information or to sign on.
3. Visit http://www.nilc.org/immspbs/ssi/index.htm for more information on this issue.

* Note: U.S. Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) with 10 years of work experience.