Citizenship NOW! returns today with vital free immigration help to thousands
Call-in kicks off at 9 a.m. when our phone lines will be manned by dedicated volunteers

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, April 23, 2012, 2:25 AM

Citizenship Now: The New York Daily News' own Allen Wernick hosts Citizenship Now: a City University of New York phone bank hotline established the week of April 27- May 1, 2009 at the paper's office 450 West 33rd Street in Manhattan to answer with New Yorkers' questions concerning immigration.

Jeanne Noonan for New York Daily News


Volunteers answer phones during Citizenship NOW!
Citizenship NOW! returns Monday morning, offering vital free immigration help to thousands.

The hugely successful call-in kicks off at 9 a.m. when our phone lines will be manned by knowledgeable and dedicated volunteers ready to tackle your questions.

This will be the 10th annual Citizenship NOW! event which is a partnership between the Daily News and the City University of New York.

Our special thanks also go out to the New Community College at CUNY for hosting the hotline.

Since its inception, the call-in has helped more than 97,000 people. This year, Citizenship NOW! anticipates assisting the 100,000th caller by Wednesday.

All YOU have to do to get your immigration query answered is dial one of these numbers:

For English, call: (212) 857-6221, or for Spanish, dial: (212) 857-6225. For the hearing-impaired the TTY/TTD number is 212-221-2465.

The Daily News’ immigration columnist and CUNY Citizenship NOW! director Allan Wernick expects that this year’s call-in will see a boost in questions from green card holders eager to become citizens.

“There’s no question that there’s an especially hot debate going on in the country about the role of immigrants,” he said.

“The response from the community is to become U.S. citizens.”

The pool of volunteers is drawn from the CUNY School of Law, the Legal Aid Society, the New York Immigration Coalition, the CUNY Citizenship NOW! Immigration Centers and the 20 CUNY campuses.

Elected officials and volunteers from community-based organizations will also staff the phone banks from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. each day this week.

A host of high-profile guests will be stopping by on Monday to see the volunteers in action, and thank them for their hard work.

They will include Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Sen. Adriano Espaillat.

Andrea Quarantillo, district director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for New York, and CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein are also visiting Monday along with Daily News Chairman & Publisher Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Daily News President & CEO, William D. Holiber and Editor-in-Chief Colin Myler.

Once again, Citizenship NOW! is delighted to have media partner Univision 41 on board along with sponsors Cisco, BlueWater, a Presidio Company, AILA, the Legal Aid Society, WADO 1280, La Que Buena and Gristedes.

And remember, if your call is not answered on the first ring, don’t give up — try again.

Over the years, Citizenship NOW! has offered help on an array of issues from visas and travel restrictions to citizenship and family issues and all calls can be answered in confidence. We look forward to hearing from you!

The people who staff the Daily News-CUNY Citizenship NOW! call-in phone lines are available to give information only. They are not attorneys for callers and cannot give you specific legal advice. The call-in is not intended as, and is not a substitute for, legal advice provided by an attorney retained to counsel and assist a client on a specific problem or situation. You should consult an attorney specializing in immigration law if you are in need of such services. The Daily News and CUNY make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to information given to callers by the Citizenship NOW! volunteers and under no circumstances will they be liable to any caller or other person for damages of any nature arising in any way from the use of such information.

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