According to recent census data, India has emerged as the second-largest contributor of new citizens to the United States, with a significant total of 65,960 Indians obtaining US citizenship in 2022. This revelation places India just behind Mexico in terms of the origin of new citizens, as reported by PTI. The American Community Survey by the US Census Bureau indicates that, in 2022, approximately 46 million foreign-born individuals resided in the United States, comprising around 14 percent of the total population of 333 million.

The latest “US Naturalisation Policy” report from the independent Congressional Research Service, dated April 15, highlights that a total of 969,380 individuals were naturalized as US citizens in fiscal year 2022. Mexico led the tally of naturalizations, followed by India, the Philippines, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. Mexico-origin individuals witnessed the highest number of naturalizations at 128,878, followed closely by India with 65,960 naturalized citizens.

However, the CRS report also underscores that a significant portion of India-born foreign nationals in the US, approximately 42 percent, are currently ineligible for US citizenship. Despite this, around 290,000 India-born foreign nationals holding Green Cards or Legal Permanent Residency (LPR) were potentially eligible for naturalization as of 2023. Concerns have been raised regarding processing backlogs for naturalization applications by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in recent years.

While USCIS has made strides in reducing pending naturalization applications since FY2020, with approximately 408,000 pending applications by the end of FY2023, eligibility for naturalization entails meeting specific requirements outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The percentage of foreign-born individuals naturalized varies by country of origin, with some countries exhibiting higher naturalization rates than others.

Source: Mint