Immigration officials, in an effort to deter fraud, will unveil today a new naturalization certificate for people who become U.S. citizens.

The new certificates, used to obtain passports and other legal documents, come after USCIS unveiled a new green card — the ID card for immigrants with permanent residency status — this year that had improved security features to prevent forgery and tampering.

The old Naturalization Certificates were filled in manually and the person’s photograph was just attached to it. The new computerized certificates will have all that information embedded in the document and also will have ink patterns that are harder to duplicate.

It’s important to note that  previously issued certificates remain valid.

If you haven’t seen the new USCIS Naturalization Resource Center, take a look.  It’s very informative, easy to navigate and an excellelnt addition to their website.