USCIS Launches Its First Ever Paid Advertising Campaign!

America Calling: The United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is seriously promoting US citizenship. Towards this end, the agency has launched its first ever paid advertising campaign to urge permanent green card holders to become US citizens.

Campaign Details: The budget for the campaign is a staggering $3.5 million. The campaign is to be spread out over a period of three years. The ads will be multilingual to target the various immigrant populations. The USCIS plans to launch the ads in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese. The ads will be released across the print media and radio. Suitable digital formats are also being planned. For optimal effects, the ads will target states with majority immigrant population such as New York, California, Texas and Florida.

The Target Audience for the Campaign: The USCIS intends to reach out to green card holders who are currently permanent residents of the US A green card holder is a person authorized to live and work in the US on a permanent basis. As proof of that status, the person is granted a permanent residence card, also known as the green card. Green card holders living in the US for five years and who show good moral character are eligible for US citizenship by naturalization. The eligible candidates also have to pass naturalization and English language test. As per USCIS records, this number stands at 7.9 million today. And this is an audience that the USCIS wants to target in their ad campaign.

The Purpose of the USCIS ad Campaign: Many green card holders do not feel the urgency to apply for US citizenship because they are unaware of the benefits. As they can legally work and stay in the US, they do not bother much about the citizenship formalities. The USCIS ad campaign intends to change this mindset. The ad campaign focuses on the benefits of being American citizens, which includes travel to several countries without visa requirements, better job prospects, right to vote and even stand for public office in the US

Message Conveyed through the Ad campaign: Besides focusing on the advantages of US citizenship, the ad campaign will also provide details about the naturalization procedures. It will provide information about the free naturalization resources available to green card holders. The campaign also provides information on the steps to be taken to become a citizen by naturalization. The campaign has professional actors who depict immigrant stories and the common reasons that people have to come to the US. USCIS wants to an emotional chord amongst the immigrants and spur them on to becoming American citizens.

So green card holders, open your ears to heed America’s call. America has opened her heart to welcome you!