Indian green-card holders face slowing US citizenship approvals

Washington, October 22 (IANS) Indian green-card holders, who form the second-largest group of new American citizens, are facing a steady slowdown in US citizenship approvals, with the backlog of pending applications crossing 813,000 in August, according to official data reviewed by IANS.US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 15,349 naturalisation applications (Form N-400) in August, according to the agency’s monthly report. That was down from 16,514 in July and 18,439 in June, the agency’s figures show.Over the same three months, the number of pending applications rose sharply. The backlog stood at 744,412 in June, climbed to 778,489 in July and reached 813,453 in August, according to the USCIS reports.Of the applications pending in August, 513,462 had been waiting for more than six months, the agency’s data showed. The average processing time stood at 12.7 months, USCIS said.The agency received 54,492 new applications in August, according to the same report, more than three times the number it approved that month.The trend matters for Indians in the US. India was the No. 2 country of birth for people who became American citizens in fiscal year 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Homeland Security Statistics.About 49,700 people born in India were naturalised that year, accounting for 6.1 per cent of the total, the DHS annual flow report said.Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state, has raised the slowdown on X.Citing data compiled by David Bier of the Cato Institute, she accused the administration of “blocking off people who… are green card holders… waiting for their citizenship approval.”Jayapal, herself a naturalised citizen born in Chennai, is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement.USCIS did not give a reason for the decline in approvals in its monthly data.The slowdown comes as the Trump administration has tightened several legal immigration channels, including the suspension of the PERM labour certification process used in employment-based green cards, a step that has drawn concern from Indian professionals.Lawful permanent residents generally become eligible to apply for citizenship after five years, or three years if married to a US citizen. Applicants must pass English and civics tests and an interview.For many Indians who waited years or even decades for green cards in employment-based categories because of per-country caps, citizenship is the final step that ends uncertainty over travel, sponsorship of relatives and voting rights.A longer wait also means many green-card holders who applied this year will not be able to vote in the November midterm elections.Immigration lawyers have advised applicants to file complete applications and keep their addresses current with the agency to avoid further delays.