India second largest source of new citizens for US; 65,960 became Americans in 2022

INDIA has emerged as the second-largest provider of new citizens to the United States, with a total of 65,960 Indians officially gaining US citizenship in 2022, data from the latest Congressional report showed. India is only behind Mexico in terms of new citizen origins, PTI reported.

In 2022, an estimated 46 million foreign-born individuals resided in the United States, constituting around 14 per cent of the total US population of 333 million, as per data from the American Community Survey by the US Census Bureau. 

Among them, approximately 53 per cent reported their status as naturalised citizens, totalling 24.5 million people.

US Naturalisation Statistics

The independent Congressional Research Service's latest "US Naturalisation Policy" report, dated April 15, revealed that in the fiscal year 2022, a total of 969,380 individuals became naturalised US citizens.

Mexico led in the number of naturalisations, followed by India, the Philippines, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

As per the latest data, Mexico-origin individuals saw the highest number of naturalisations at 128,878, followed by India (65,960), the Philippines (53,413), Cuba (46,913), the Dominican Republic (34,525), Vietnam (33,246), and China (27,038).

As of 2023, India had the second-largest number of foreign-born American nationals, standing at 2,831,330, following Mexico's 10,638,429. China ranked third with 2,225,447 foreign-born American nationals.

Eligibility and Backlogs

However, the CRS report noted that 42 percent of India-born foreign nationals in the US are currently ineligible for US citizenship. As of 2023, around 290,000 India-born foreign nationals holding Green Cards or Legal Permanent Residency (LPR) were potentially eligible for naturalisation. Concerns have been raised about USCIS processing backlogs for naturalisation applications in recent years.

Despite ongoing backlogs since FY2020, USCIS has made progress in reducing pending naturalisation applications. By the end of FY2023, the agency had approximately 408,000 pending naturalisation applications, down from 943,000 at the end of FY2020.

To be eligible for naturalisation, applicants must meet certain requirements outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), including being a lawful permanent resident (LPR) for at least five years. The percentage of foreign-born individuals naturalised varies by factors such as country of origin, with some countries showing higher rates than others.

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