Switchboard Blog
Switchboard’s blog posts offer a wide range of insights on the newcomer experience, including practical tips for navigating the resettlement process, resource lists tailored to community needs, case studies about relevant programs, engaging stories of successful integration, and more.
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2025 Changes to the Naturalization Civics Test: What Service Providers Need to Know
On September 18, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Federal Register Notice announcing implementation of the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test. Starting on October 20, 2025, the test will consist of 20 questions chosen from a pool of 128 rather than 10 questions from a pool of 100 in the 2008 version. Passing…
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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, youth and young adult vaccination rates remain below what is needed to keep our communities safest. Encouraging young adults to get the vaccine and encouraging parents to get it for their eligible children have both become major priorities. Below are tips and resources from the National Resource Center…
- NRC-RIM
Refugee service providers play a critical role in COVID-19 response, supporting refugee and immigrant communities so that they can get accurate, accessible information from trusted sources. To help with that effort, Switchboard is excited to feature blogs from our colleagues at the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM). Each blog post will…
- NRC-RIM
With the economic and health crises that came with COVID-19, many service providers were forced to shift priorities with clients. This was the case at Jewish Family Service of Seattle (JFS) of Seattle, where we quickly pivoted to services more focused on emergency needs. To ensure we did not lose sight of our long-term integration…
- Paige Vogel
The Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) is a scientific study that collects information about how recently resettled refugees are adapting to life in the U.S. It is funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement and is being conducted by the Urban Institute and SSRS. ORR has conducted this survey since 1993 to gather information…
- Urban Institute
This post follows an earlier blog, Refugees and Asylees Have the Right to Work: Busting Three Myths about Social Security Delays & Work Authorization. To learn more on this topic, stream the webinar recording Refugees and Asylees Have the Right to Work, hosted in December 2020. Service providers often encounter difficulties when communicating with employers…
- Daniel Wilkinson
Content in this post was informed by conversations with Senior Trial Attorney Liza Zamd from the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. Click here to access the second post in this series, Overcoming Two Key Challenges when Communicating with Employers about Work Authorization. To learn more on this topic,…
- Daniel Wilkinson