Practical Ideas For Green Card Holders

June 20, 2010 | Posted by Samantha Lee

Adjusting to your new life in the U.S.A. will take considerable time and effort. This article series contains important information that will help you settle in the United States and find what you and your family need for everyday life. It also presents important information about about other government programs and non-profit organizations that provide documents or essential services you may need. This guide will help you get off on the right foot, but it won’t answer every single question that you will need answered about your new life in the United States. Therefore, we are going to spend time discussing various places that you can go to find answrs on your own. Some of these places include your local state, county, or city government offices. In addition, we will review some local services and agencies that provide special assistance to new immigrants.

This is the first article in a series of articles designed to help you adjust to your new country. There are organizations in many communities that provide free or very low-cost assistance to immigrants. These organizations can help you learn about your community and the services available to you as an immigrant. You can look for these organizations by searching on the Internet, looking in your local phone book, asking at the public library, and asking your local government social service agency. Of all of these, we believe that the local public library might be the most valuable tool for new immigrants. We say this because public libraries are conveniently located in almost every community. In addition, they are free and staffed with experts who can help you find answers to many of your most challenging questions. As an added benefit, you can be issued a library card that allows you to borrow all sorts of materials that range from videos, books, magazine and more. Additionally, most libraries have public WIFI facilities that allow free access to the Internet. Most libraries also offer a number of free classes on such topics as using the Internet productively to find information. Some libraries also provide English language tutoring.

As a new immigrant, you should never underestimate the usefulness of your local phone book or telephone directory. Phonebooks or phone directories contain telephone numbers and important contact information to key government offices and community services. Further, a phone book includes city maps, and instructions for ordering phone service, electricity, and public utilities. You should also become familiar with the white pages which contain phone numbers of individual people. Conversely, the yellow pages have phone numbers and addresses for businesses and organizations. Generally, the blue pages provide local, state, and federal government contact information. So what good is the Internet? The Internet is an extremely valuable tool that will connect you to hundreds of informational sources from private companies to government agencies and non-profit organizations. Most government websites end with “.gov”. If you don’t have an internet connection in your home, you can usually access the internet for free in a public library. The Internet saves time and makes finding information on schools, homes and other information extremely easy. You also can also find important facts about employment opportunities and job training programs in your community.

Throughout this series, we will also cover a wide range of organizations that exist in many communities across the country that provide free or very low-cost assistance to immigrants. Many of these non-profit and faith based organizations can assist you one on one. By spending some time with them, you will learn a great deal about your community and the many resources that are available to you. While we will be covering these in future articles, you can begin learning more about them immediately by searching for these organizations on the Internet, looking in your local phone book, asking at the public library, and asking your local government social service agency.

If you have some ideas for future articles in this series please drop us a line and let us know. We look forward to hearing from you.

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