yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Challenges of naturalization | Citizenship | High school civics | Khan Academy


3m read
·Nov 10, 2024

  • Now that we've talked about the naturalization process and the eligibility requirements for naturalization, let's talk about how difficult it can be to become a naturalized citizen. Immigrant residents seeking naturalization face barriers throughout the process. And it's only become more difficult over time.

Immigrants face strict requirements to become lawful permanent residents, and when they try to become U.S. citizens, they face increased filing costs and long processing times for their applications. Certain groups of immigrants get priority when they apply for lawful permanent resident status. As the Pew Research Center reported, in 2015, 44% of green cards went to immigrants who were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

And 20% went to immigrants who were extended family members of citizens and lawful permanent residents. Having special skills, like being a talented doctor or doing innovative research, or special talents, like being a gifted athlete, means you're in the most prioritized group for employment-based preferences for lawful permanent residents. If you don't have special skills or talents, you can still be eligible for employment-based residency, but you have to have an employer willing to complete all the necessary paperwork with the federal government.

As that is an added cost, some employers refuse to hire people from outside the United States. So if you don't have any specialized skills, a job offer, an employer willing to file paperwork for labor certification, a parent with lawful permanent resident or citizenship status, it's difficult to get lawful permanent status. The challenges continue throughout the naturalization process.

It takes years for lawful permanent residents to become American citizens. Remember that even to apply for naturalization, lawful permanent residents have to have lived in the United States for at least five years. But the process can take much longer than that. The median time it takes for lawful permanent residents to become citizens is actually eight years. Part of the reason that it takes so long is because of how long it takes to process a naturalization application.

The federal government has experienced a significant backlog of applications waiting for processing. And the average time to process a citizenship application has doubled since 2012. This is due to a surge in applications and stricter scrutiny on those applications. And the costs associated with filing a naturalization application have also increased significantly.

Let's take a look at this chart. In 1985, it only cost $35 for a person to file an application. Now it costs over $1,000 to file. Why does it cost so much more? USCIS argues that the increased fees are necessary to offset the growing cost of processing applications and deterring fraud. And this graph doesn't cover all of the costs an immigrant might incur during the naturalization process, since it doesn't include any of the costs associated with getting a lawyer to advise them or any classes that they might need to take in order to learn English or U.S. Civics.

Although immigrant residents face a number of challenges to become naturalized citizens, hundreds of thousands apply for naturalization every year, because the benefits of becoming a naturalized citizen often outweigh the costs.

More Articles

View All
Reasoning with systems of equations | Equivalent systems of equations | Algebra I | Khan Academy
So let’s say I had the equation (2x + y = 8). This is a single equation with two unknowns, and there are many different (xy) pairs that would satisfy this equation. Now let’s add a second equation: (x + y = 5). Once again, if we only looked at this second…
Balloons on the River - (Decatur - Sufjan Stevens) Alabama Jubilee
One two three [Music] four. Our stepmom, we did everything to hate her. She took us down to the edge of the theater. We saw the lion and the kangaroo. Take her down to the river where they call the wild. [Music] Alligator singing man overflow C the mudl o…
How to sell a $23,500,000 private jet | Dassault Falcon 7X
This is a Dao Falcon 7X aircraft. We’re going to take a look through it right now. So, Steve, I’ve noticed that this aircraft has three engines compared to the other two-engine aircraft. Why is that? It’s quite funny, there’s three engines versus two en…
Chromosomes and genes | Inheritance and variation | Middle school biology | Khan Academy
This is a super cute puppy. He has a pink tongue, black fur, and a very friendly personality. We know that when this puppy grows up, he will have a healthy weight of about 70 pounds. He will love to play fetch and enjoy snuggles with his human family. We…
these inventions changed the world..
The latrine, the porcelain throne, the Oval Office toilets… do I really need to say anything here? Before toilets, we would literally use buckets or just went into the forest or peed on a tree or something. We didn’t really have any efficient way of getti…
Ice Breakers - Ep. 1 | National Geographic Presents: IMPACT With Gal Gadot
GAL: “I want them to feel like they don’t have to conceal what they love or who they are to conform.” This is Kameryn’s wish for the girls she coaches as a figure skater and life role model, as she reminds them to always embrace their beauty, their joy, a…