The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is currently facing a huge backlog of naturalization cases waiting to be processed. USCIS itself has estimated that it will take approximately three years to handle the current naturalization backlog. In this year of elections and wishes for change in the national government, this situation is absolutely devastating for people who have already been approved for US citizenship but are still waiting to receive their invitation to the swearing-in ceremony. Many people do not know that only after swearing allegiance to the United States during the swearing-in ceremony does one become a naturalized US citizen.
It will take USCIS approximately three years to process currently pending naturalization cases, as directed by USCIS officials. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the USCIS has informed them that during the summer of 2007, it received approximately three times the number of naturalization applications it received during the same period in 2006. Specifically, as of October 2007, the USCIS had almost 1 million naturalization applications waiting to be processed and decided.
The large increase in applications submitted to USCIS was likely the result of the USCIS filing fee increase on July 30 of last year. As a result of the USCIS increase in its filing fees, the fee for the naturalization process increased from $ 330 to $ 595. The naturalization filing fee increased to almost double the price. With this increase, it is easy to see why the number of naturalization applications submitted more than doubled last year.
Members of Congress have noted that the USCIS stated reason for raising its fees was to reduce processing times. In reality, the USCIS specified that it would use the highest number of fees to hire more employees and increase its processing resources. He noted that the fee increase would reduce the average processing time for naturalization applications by 20 percent by the end of 2009. However, the opposite is currently happening.
During this crucial election year, becoming a US citizen authorized to vote is extremely important. Although the situation is extremely frustrating for many, there are ways available to speed up the naturalization process. US immigration laws allow people who have been waiting 120 days after the naturalization interview without receiving any communication from USCIS to request the courts to make a decision on naturalization. For example, in cases where the person was approved at the time of the naturalization interview but has not received an Invitation to the swearing-in ceremony within 120 days from the time of the interview, the person may seek help of the court to obtain the Invitation to the swearing-in ceremony. On the other hand, if the person has completed the naturalization interview and has not received a decision within 120 days of the interview, the courts can act on the person’s behalf and force the USCIS to make a decision. Courts may decide to conduct a naturalization interview themselves or send it to the USCIS for an immediate decision without further interviews.
This process is commonly used at this time due to the extreme delay in naturalization, the expected wait for USCIS of three years, and the fact that elections for a new president of the United States are approaching in just a few months. If you have already undergone your naturalization interview and have not received a response or an invitation to the swearing-in ceremony from USCIS within 120 days, be sure to contact an immigration attorney to discuss available alternatives. The right to vote is a right that all US citizens have and should not be jeopardized by administrative deficiencies.
