US application processing time doubled

The average waiting time for applications for US citizenship was about five months in 2014. Today, the average waiting time until the application for citizenship is processed by the United States Citizenship and Migration Service (USCIS) is 10 months.

Фото: Depositphotos

In September, 2013 was filed for more than 300 000 citizenship applications. Now more than 750 000 applications are waiting to be processed.

This means that permanent residents wait longer than a year. For those who live in districts where there are many permanent residents, the waiting time can reach 17 months.

There are probably several reasons why the waiting time and the backlog of the agency have increased significantly.

Changes in the work of the Obama and Trump administration have made the application process time consuming, costly, and in many ways difficult for non-native English speakers.

It all started under President Obama when, in 2014, he instructed USCIS to make significant changes to the application form. The number of pages increased from 10 to 21.

Much of this increase is due to new issues regarding the applicants' references to terrorist groups, genocide and military training, among other topics. These questions were added, despite the fact that very few naturalized citizens came from countries with terrorist ties. The new test also included more complex questions about US history and civil liberties.

These types of questions in the new form, as well as the use of more technical terms that non-native English speakers fear, may deter from filing for citizenship.

Under President Trump, the average waiting time and the backlog also increased.

According to a report by the National Partnership for New Americans, from July 2017 to July 2018, the backlog increased by 35%. Since July 2016, the increase in expectation of consideration of applications for citizenship has increased by 77%.

The report also said that USCIS reduced the processing speed and increased the number of failures under the current administration. This was done "in an arbitrary manner and has no geographical uniformity."

For example, the processing speed in some states is much higher than in others. In Florida, waiting time for an application has decreased by 5 percent. Over the same period, the backlog in Alabama increased by 213 percent.

In fact, instead of dealing with a growing backlog, USCIS is actually spending resources looking at thousands of old applications for citizenship for any potential signs of fraud. If the agency finds fraud in the application, it immediately cancels it.

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