The federal government is processing U.S. citizenship applications at the fastest pace in decades, with thousands of new immigrants becoming citizens every week, a move that could determine the outcome of the November election.
According to a New York Times report, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USIS) is taking an average of 4.9 months to process naturalization applications in the first nine months of this fiscal year, a pace not seen since 2013 and 2014.
The average processing time of less than five months is a stark difference from the pace just three years ago, when it took authorities about 11.5 months to process naturalization applications.
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President Biden listens as new citizens take the Oath of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony in the East Room of the White House on July 2, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A total of 3.3 million immigrants have become naturalized citizens since President Biden took office, in part because his administration shortened the naturalization application from 20 pages to 14. The administration also raised the application fee from $640 to $710 in April, but made it easier for low-income applicants to qualify for discounts.
Green card holders, also known as lawful permanent residents, are eligible to obtain U.S. citizenship after five years of lawful status, though some may qualify sooner, such as those who have been married to a U.S. citizen for at least three years.
According to a report from The New York Times, the new US citizens will have rights that permanent residents don’t have, such as the right to vote in upcoming elections.
“A surge in naturalization efficiency won’t just clear a backlog; it could also realign the electorate just months before a key election,” Xiao Wang, CEO of Boundless, a company that provides services to immigrants seeking assistance with the naturalization process, told The New York Times. “Every citizenship application could be a vote that decides a senate seat or even a presidential election.”
A video of President Biden delivering a welcoming message to new immigrants during a naturalization ceremony in Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyoming, on August 4, 2023. (Natalie Bering/Getty Images)
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The report noted that it was unclear how many of the new citizens would be eligible to vote in key battleground states, but noted that the number of new citizens eligible to vote in all of them would likely increase. In one instance, people from 19 countries packed a federal courthouse in Georgia to formally recognize the new citizens in a ceremony.
There are currently about 9 million permanent residents eligible for naturalization, and the report said the largest group is Latino, who have historically supported Democratic candidates.
Newly-born citizens have also historically expressed expectations of voting, with a survey by the National Immigration Policy Center finding that 81.4% of naturalized citizens said they would “definitely” vote in 2024, while 14% said they would “probably” vote.
People take the Pledge of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in New York City on July 2, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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“This is a great country that we want to be fully a part of,” Nishan Patel, 28, a dentist from Kenya who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, told The New York Times. “We will contribute and we will vote.”
Neither the White House nor USCIS immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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