By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

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Independent/Scott Kingsley Leonel Ramirez gets help and answers to his questions from Adjudication Officer Angela Bagwell of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service during a clinic Wednesday morning at Trinity United Methodist Church. Independent/Scott Kingsley Jesus Gabriel listens to answers to his questions of a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer at Trinity United Methodist Church Wednesday morning. An immigration clinic was held where citizenship applications and pathway questions were answered by USCIS adjudication officers. Click Thumbnails to View

The Grand Island clinic was requested by the Multicultural Coalition in Grand Island and arranged by U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson's office.

Many people came with manilla envelopes filled with immigration papers to ask about the progress of their own immigration cases, which usually take years to play out, with many individual steps along the way, before they can become a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Some people also had questions about relatives whom they might want to bring to this country, said Odalys Perez, executive director of the Multicultural Coalition.

A few people were talking about applications to become naturalized citizens that might have been rejected because of a misdemeanor offense such as DUI, Perez said. Such people often wanted to know how long before they could re-apply to begin the process of becoming a naturalized citizen.

Lutheran Family Services members were in another room in the church, where they handed out applications and also let people work on practice citizenship tests.

Maria Lopez, minority recruiter for Central Community College and a Multicultural Coalition board member, noted that the citizenship test will be changing.

Many people believe the redesigned test is much more difficult than the current citizenship test.

Adrian Lopez, Hispanic liaison for the Army National Guard in Kearney, said he believes that if high school students took the revised test, fewer than half would pass.

Lopez had information, though, that said:

* If a person applies before Oct. 1 and is scheduled to take his or her naturalization interview before Oct. 1, he or she will take the current test.

* If a person applies before Oct. 1 and is scheduled for his or her naturalization interview after Oct. 1, he or she can choose either the current test or the redesigned version.

* If a person applies after Oct. 1, he or she will take the redesigned test.

* Regardless of when a person applies, if his or her naturalization interview is scheduled after Oct. 1, 2009, he or she will take the redesigned test.

One of the major reasons for the redesign, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is to ensure that the test "can effectively assess whether applicants have a meaningful understanding of U.S. government and history."