Citizenship and Immigration Services news stories on Newser

US Citizenship Requests Tumble

Kevin Spak — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:23:57 CDT

It seems fewer people want to hop into the American melting pot these days, as applications for citizenship have fallen off a cliff, the Dallas Morning News reports. After receiving a record 1.4 million requests from legal residents looking to becoming naturalized in fiscal year 2007, US Citizenship and...

Citizenship Test Moves Beyond Trivia

Gabriel Winant — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:49:35 CDT

The new test to become a US citizen debuts today, and it's making plenty of immigrants and their advocacy groups anxious. Proponents say it asks more meaningful questions—instead of "What were the original 13 states?" it asks things like "What does the Constitution do?"—but some worry that it's...

Citizenship Fees Up, Applications Down

Harry Kimball — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:16:02 CDT

Higher fees for immigrants seeking US citizenship could be responsible for a drop in applications, USA Today reports. The fee went from $400 to $675 last summer; applications are down almost 60% in the first 6 months of 2008, compared to the same period last year. “The expense has shut...

US May Move to Restrict H-1B Visa 'Cheaters'

Nick McMaster — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:11:10 CST

The US is expecting a record number of applications for H-1B visas—given to highly skilled, specialized foreign workers—and is considering rules to penalize companies that try to improve their chances, ComputerWorld reports. Desperate firms have been known to send more than one application—123, 480 were received last...

FBI Bails on Immigrant Probes as Backlogs Mount

Peter Fearon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:45:00 CST

Immigration officials are expected to grant green cards to tens of thousands of aliens before required FBI background checks, because the Department of Homeland Security is struggling under a ballooning backlog, McClatchy Newspapers reports. Background checks would be performed after immigrants are granted residency, which could be revoked if problems...

Immigrants Facing Epic Citizenship Delays

Zach Samalin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:40:17 CST

Over one million immigrants will have to wait up to 18 months before become US citizens due to a massive bureaucratic backlog nationwide. Applications surged last summer ahead of a fee increase of nearly 75%, the Boston Globe reports, helping create the paper jam. Before the increase, the average immigrant...

Citizenship Delays Will Impact Election

Peter Fearon — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:12:09 CST

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have applied for US citizenship will not have those applications processed in time to vote in the 2008 election. The Department of Homeland Security failed to fully prepare for a massive increase in applications filed to beat a widely publicized fee increase that took...

Citizenship Test Gets Overhaul

Colleen Barry — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:00:00 CDT

The government yesterday unveiled its new citizenship test, which puts less emphasis on memorization of facts and more on analysis. To become naturalized, it's no longer enough for applicants to know how many stars or stripes are on the flag, but they may need to ID a constitutional amendment that...

FBI Name Checks Stall Immigration

Evelyn Renold — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 04:13:36 CDT

Bureaucratic bottlenecks are causing such long delays for prospective citizens, reports the Houston Chronicle , that hundreds of frustrated immigrants are now suing the federal government to try to speed up their background checks. Immigration Service figures show that about 16% of cases—over 51,000 people—have been pending between...