Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship

Virtual Immigration Legal Screening Clinic Limited Consultations: 

The City of Cambridge and De Novo will hold their next Virtual Immigration Legal Screening Clinic on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, providing limited consultations, while City and De Novo offices are closed to public gatherings.

Callers to the Virtual Clinic Message Line at (617) 405-5479 should leave their name and contact number any time before the 12 p.m. deadline on May 19, 2021. Calls received by 12 p.m. will be returned within 3-4 business days.

A return call from De Novo staff will ask some pertinent questions to enable assignment to an Immigration Attorney, who will contact callers for a limited consultation. Attorneys will return their assigned calls within a few days of receiving their assignments.

Once capacity for this clinic is reached, additional callers will be assigned to next month's Virtual Clinic.

Click here for the English flyer with the 2021 clinic dates.

The flyer is also available to download in the following languages:

Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Haitian Kreyol, Somali, Spanish, and Portuguese 

Are you looking for information on COVID 19 and the Vaccine in differently languages?

The City of Cambridge has handouts translated in multiple languages. Click here to view the information. 

Visit the CDC website for "What to Expect Handout" in various languages: Here it is in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Other languages can be found here.

You can also contact Massachusetts Informational and Referral hotline 211 for the COVID-19 Vaccine

(877) 211-6277: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls are free and confidential. Interpreter services are available in multiple languages. TTY (508) 370-4890: All calls are free and confidential.

To access information from the State in multiple languages, click here.

Need information regarding changes to the Public Charge Rule?

What is public charge? “Public charge” or the “public charge test” is used by immigration officials to decide whether a person can enter the U.S. or get a green card (Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status). In this test, officials look at all of a person’s circumstances, including income, employment, health, education or skills, family situation and whether a sponsor signed a contract (“affidavit of support”) promising to support the person. Officials can also look at whether a person has used specific benefit programs. The public charge test does not apply to green card holders who are applying for U.S. citizenship. 

The Cambridge Health Alliance prepared a website with information about public charge and where to get the help you need.

Please check the Protecting Immigrant Families website for regular updates regarding changes to immigration policies. Click here to learn more on how to navigate the Public Charge Rule change. 

Follow these links for additional legal assistance:

Overview of Basic Rights (Translations available at these websites)

• Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition - Know Your Rights Resources, 617-350-5480
• American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts - Know Your Rights Resources, 617-482-3170
• National Immigration Law Center - Know Your Rights Resources, 213-639-3900

Visit the State's website for the Emergency Planning Guide for Families prepared by the Office of Attorney General

Click here to download the Emergency Planning Guide for Families in English, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The guide outlines care and custody options, including caregiver authorization, temporary agent authorization, and guardianship of a minor. The guide offers a comparison of how these options differ, and outlines the process for setting up each of these arrangements. It also offers a checklist of documents that parents may want to ensure they have in a safe place and available to the child and his or her caregiver as needed, such as passports, medical records, contact information and more.

Are you worried about TPS? 

Click here for more information from MIRA.

We do not warranty their information nor have we verified it.

About CIRC

The Commission on Immigrant Rights & Citizenship (CIRC) was formed in September 2016 to address the needs of Cambridge’s immigrant community. It accomplishes this through its work in the following areas: 

• Providing outreach material regarding immigrant rights and resources, both through its website and in locations throughout the City.
• Coordinating “Know Your Rights” (KYR) Trainings, provided by experienced Immigration Attorneys, in conjunction with the American Immigration Lawyers Association – New England (AILA-NE) and the Political Asylum and Immigration/Representation (PAIR) Project. Know Your Rights trainings can be arranged through the CIRC Office, by host organizations with sites located in Cambridge. 
• Providing “Red Cards” in eight predominant local foreign languages (Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish and Somali). Red Cards are provided at KYR Trainings, in the CIRC Office and by mail (in limited quantities) upon request.
• Providing Outreach and Referral Services through a CIRC staff person who will assist Cambridge immigrant residents with identifying, accessing and obtaining City and local services and resources. This CIRC Outreach Worker will reach out to faith-based organizations, community organizations and meeting places that serve immigrant populations, to provide assistance to Cambridge resident immigrants related to housing, benefits, ESOL classes, citizenship classes, legal services and counseling needs. The CIRC Outreach Worker will be available to provide these services starting in fall 2017. 

Click here to sign up for our newsletter!

Click here to view CIRC's informational video

Staff and members of the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship discuss how their work serves immigrant residents in Cambridge.