USCIS Projects Shorter Naturalization Application Processing Times

A 4/2/08 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) News Release announced that the agency is now projecting a shorter average processing time for naturalization applications than it was six months ago. USCIS plans to finish more than one million naturalization cases during fiscal year 2008 – far exceeding the number of cases completed last year. This update comes following a thorough analysis of the work completed during the last six months.

“By the end of the year, I expect USCIS will have finished 36 percent more naturalization cases than last year without compromising national security or the integrity of the naturalization process,” said USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez.

The agency recently updated the expected time it will take to complete naturalization cases, projecting processing times averaging 13-15 months.

Last summer, USCIS received an unprecedented number of applications and petitions for immigration benefits. During June, July and August alone, USCIS received nearly three million filings, compared to 1.8 million filings during the same period the previous year. This sudden surge included 1.4 million naturalization applications last year – 460,000 in July alone. While historically filing increases have occurred in advance of fee increases, Presidential elections, immigration debates and new legislation, none of the past increases are close to the magnitude of the last summer’s surge.