Nigerians, other immigrants becoming U.S. citizens at fastest clip in decade

Nigerians and other immigrants becoming U.S. citizens at the “fastest clip in a decade” as the United States government is rapidly processing citizenship applications backlogs that were piled up during former President Donald Trump’s administration.

According to the New York Times, with citizenship applications being processed in under five months, the pace is now at par with 2013 and 2014. Mr Trump’s harsh stance on immigration created backlogs which lasted throughout his four-year term.

An estimated 3.3 million immigrants from Nigeria and other countries have been granted American citizenship since President Joe Biden came into office.

Immediately after Mr Biden assumed office, he used multiple executive orders to overturn hard-line immigration policies that were implemented by Mr Trump to “restore faith” in the legal immigration system.

Mr Biden’s order also called for action to “substantially reduce current naturalisation processing times” with the goal of strengthening the integration of new Americans.

With less than two months to go before the close of the 2024 fiscal year, it now takes the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 4.9 months on average to process naturalisation applications for the first time in the current fiscal year.

It is a huge contrast compared with 11.5 months in fiscal 2021.

With necessary requirements, Green-card holders can become U.S. citizens after five years of staying in the United States and three years if married to an American spouse.

Green-card holders have the same privileges as U.S. citizens but cannot vote in federal elections.

Vice-President Kamala Harris and Mr Trump will go head-to-head in the 2024 U.S. presidential election in November, and the huge number of newly naturalised citizens who are now eligible to vote may influence the election outcome in key states.