Used to be called the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Let me be the first to admit. My husband and I procrastinate on those things that don't seem terribly urgent. Like getting citizenship.
I've filled out these forms 3 times now, and am filling it out for the fourth time. I told him I wouldn't fill it out again until he went in and got the needed legal photos first. A recent change from the frustrating "Must be exactly X size with exactly this much ear showing, and the face at exactly THIS angle, passport photos not acceptable" to "just your passport photo is fine" has made this process easier for us. There were very few photographers who had the know how to produce the previous version. We know, we've had photos rejected before by INS.
But I've come across another interesting difference. Perhaps I'll list them as I fill out this from from my previous printed version that has all the addresses and previous employments so I don't have to research those again.
In one section, they used to simply ask your race, hair color, and eye color. Now they have a question that states specifically: Are you Hispanic or Latino? Then they ask the other questions. Cynically, I wonder why, since it wasn't even in the list of races before. And they don't ask if you are of Arabic descent either.
The list of races were: White, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Unknown
The list of races are now: White, Asian, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
Posted by AmkaProblemka (Member # 6495) on :
I finished the thing, and that was the only change.
So my question stands:
Why did they have a separate question for Latino/Hispanic and didn't simply list it with the other races? Why did they suddenly decide to ask people if they were Latino or Hispanic?
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Latino/Hispanics are the largest minority in the US, and growing every minute.
Posted by AmkaProblemka (Member # 6495) on :
This has been true for the past two decades, but other citizenship forms I've filled out have not specifically addressed it.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Latino/Hispanic is not considered a race, as far as I know. Don't know why not, but that's the reason.
Dagonee
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
Recently there has been a push to put more classifications for hispanic people. The reasons are a mix of the fact that they are a very rapidly growing minority and the fact that they are getting more invovled in politics so they are no longer under the radar.
There has also been more of a push to do research on issues important to hispanics. In the past the main focus was white or African American, now Hispanics are becoming more common in social science research.
Also, as Dag mentioned, Latino/Hispanic is not actually classified as a race.
[ August 19, 2004, 07:53 PM: Message edited by: Lupus ]
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
I've seen many forms that ask for race and list Black, Hispanic, etc., then specifically list White(non-hispanic) as an option. It's part of the Census Bureau, too. And this page of the Census Bureau is pretty surprising, considering I have it bookmarked and never really looked at all the things I could get from that page.