India now second largest source of new citizens to US: report

According to the latest congressional report, a total of 65,960 Indians have officially become US citizens, making India the second-largest source of new citizens to the US after Mexico.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data, 46 million foreign-born people are expected to live in the United States in 2022, accounting for approximately 14% of the total U.S. population of 333 million.

Of these, 24.5 million (about 53%) reported their naturalized citizenship status.

The latest “U.S. Naturalization Policy” report released by the independent Congressional Research Service on April 15 shows that a total of 969,380 people will be naturalized as U.S. citizens in fiscal year 2022.

“People born in Mexico have the highest number of naturalized individuals, followed by people from India, the Philippines, Cuba and the Dominican Republic,” the report said.

Based on the latest available data, the CRS said that as many as 128,878 Mexican nationals will become U.S. citizens by 2022. This is followed by Indians (65,960), the Philippines (53,413), Cuba (46,913), the Dominican Republic (34,525), Vietnam (33,246) and China (27,038).

According to CRS, as of 2023, there were 2,831,330 foreign-born U.S. citizens from India, the second-highest number after Mexico with 10,638,429. Following Mexico and India is China with 2,225,447 foreign-born U.S. citizens.

However, the CRS report said that as many as 42% of Indian-born foreigners currently living in the United States are not eligible to become U.S. citizens.

As of 2023, as many as 290,000 foreigners born in India with green cards or legal permanent residence (LPR) may be eligible for naturalization.

CRS said that in recent years, some observers have expressed concern about the backlog of naturalization applications processed by USCIS.

While the backlog of naturalization applications has continued since fiscal year 2020, the agency has reduced the number of pending applications by more than half.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had approximately 408,000 pending naturalization applications at the end of fiscal year 2023, down from 550,000 at the end of fiscal 2022; 840,000 at the end of fiscal 2021; and 943,000 at the end of fiscal 2020.

In fiscal year 2023, 823,702 LPRs submitted applications for naturalization. The number of recent applications for citizenship remains well below the 9 million LPR population expected to be eligible for naturalization in 2023. The percentage of naturalized people who are foreign-born varies based on a variety of factors, including country of origin.

Immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, El Salvador, and Brazil have the lowest rates of foreign-born naturalization, while immigrants from Vietnam, the Philippines, Russia, Jamaica, and Pakistan have the highest rates.

In order to be eligible for naturalization, applicants must meet certain eligibility requirements set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). These requirements typically include being a lawful permanent resident (LPR) for at least five years.