Current Immigration Statistics - Naturalization—becoming A Citizen

Naturalization refers to the conferring of U.S. citizenship, by any means, upon a person after birth. A naturalization court grants citizenship if the naturalization

TABLE 3.8
Immigrants admitted, by major class of admission and selected demographic characteristics, 2003
SOURCE: "Table 7. Immigrants Admitted by Major Class of Admission and Selected Demographic Characteristics, Fiscal Year 2003," in 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Office of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, September 2004, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/IMM03yrbk/2003IMM.pdf (accessed January 27, 2005)

Characteristic	Total	Family-sponsored preferences	Employment-based preferences	Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens	Diversity programs	Refugee and asylee adjustments	Other
Total	705,827	158,894	82,137	332,657	46,347	44,927	40,865
Gender
Male	316,225	76,109	41,761	129,394	24,938	22,932	21,091
Female	389,507	82,783	40,362	203,255	21,404	21,950	19,753
Unknown	95	b	14	8	b	45	21
Age
Under 16 years	129,497	39,212	15,127	53,921	9,554	8,827	2,856
16–20 years	68,390	25,103	6,333	25,819	3,498	4,785	2,852
21 years and over	507,904	94,568	60,676	252,904	33,289	31,314	35,153
Under 1 year	11,994	611	234	10,022	495	a	632
1–4 years	24,658	5,592	2,190	12,896	2,519	1,002	459
5–9 years	36,282	11,754	5,737	11,905	3,096	3,227	563
10–14 years	45,536	17,012	5,707	15,455	2,912	3,638	812
15–19 years	61,632	22,891	6,144	22,572	2,933	4,755	2,337
20–24 years	65,121	13,502	3,385	35,551	5,630	4,691	2,362
25–29 years	91,709	11,820	11,182	53,226	8,271	4,338	2,872
30–34 years	96,190	15,224	17,869	42,685	7,297	5,161	7,954
35–39 years	70,235	13,721	12,112	25,563	4,948	4,890	9,001
40–44 years	51,572	13,373	8,194	16,533	3,540	4,009	5,923
45–49 years	39,621	13,245	5,082	12,517	2,178	2,891	3,708
50–54 years	30,074	10,067	2,481	12,086	1,370	1,914	2,156
55–59 years	23,427	5,623	1,086	13,820	660	1,256	982
60–64 years	20,564	2,755	481	15,448	301	1,055	526
65–74 years	28,207	1,584	226	24,318	159	1,461	459
75 years and over	8,969	109	26	8,047	32	638	117
Unknown	36	11	b	13	6	b	b
Marital status
Single	275,047	98,446	30,768	84,126	21,721	21,646	18,340
Married	401,134	57,088	50,012	229,757	23,787	19,860	20,630
Widowed	17,436	1,029	157	14,475	173	1,163	439
Divorced/separated	10,882	2,298	1,027	4,180	645	1,439	1,293
Unknown	1,328	33	173	119	21	819	163
Occupation
Executive and managerial	22,295	4,292	6,394	5,104	5,870	413	222
Professional and technical	46,495	6,046	23,744	9,223	6,323	902	257
Sales	12,594	4,752	776	4,240	1,436	1,168	222
Administrative support	9,870	3,449	759	3,320	1,740	419	183
Farming, forestry, and fisheries	8,685	4,588	165	3,392	306	88	146
Operators, fabricators, and laborers	24,595	7,760	975	8,798	1,324	3,949	1,789
Precision production, craft, and repair	7,698	1,961	1,025	2,109	912	1,045	646
Service	29,117	9,091	2,661	8,416	4,795	2,895	1,259
Military	56	12	3	28	4	5	4
No occupation/not working outside home	310,197	87,987	32,534	150,862	17,460	16,602	4,752
Homemakers	79,667	17,879	10,118	47,800	1,412	1,686	772
Students or children	188,082	62,325	20,748	73,137	14,896	13,346	3,630
Retirees	2,603	259	41	1,766	20	475	42
Unemployed	39,845	7,524	1,627	28,159	1,132	1,095	308
Unknown	234,225	28,956	13,101	137,165	6,177	17,441	31,385
aRepresents zero.
bDisclosure standards not met.

occurs within the United States, while a representative of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confers naturalization if it is performed outside the United States. Beginning in 1992 IMMACT also permitted persons to naturalize through administrative hearings with the INS (now USCIS). When individuals become U.S. citizens, they pledge allegiance to the United States and renounce allegiance to their former country of nationality.

General Requirements

In order to naturalize, most immigrants have to meet certain general requirements. They have to be at least eighteen years old, have been legally admitted to the United States for permanent residence, and have lived in this country continuously for at least five years. They also have to be able to speak, read, and write English; know how the U.S. government works; have a basic knowledge of U.S. history; and be of good moral character. According to the 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, 91% of the immigrants who became naturalized in fiscal year 2003 did so by meeting these general provisions.

Special Provisions

The remaining 9% of persons naturalized in 2003 did so under special provisions of the naturalization laws that exempted them from one or more of the general requirements. Spouses and children of U.S. citizens and military personnel made up most of those attaining citizenship through special provisions. Spouses of U.S. citizens can become naturalized in three years instead of the normal five. Children who immigrated with their parents generally receive their U.S. citizenship through the naturalization of their parents. Aliens with lawful permanent resident status who served honorably in the U.S. military are also entitled to certain exemptions from the naturalization requirements.

Naturalization Rates

The longer immigrants lived in the United States, the more likely they were to become naturalized citizens. Figure 3.6 shows that 80.9% of those who entered the United States before 1970 were naturalized, compared to 14.7% of those who arrived in 1990 or later. The Census Bureau reported that of the foreign-born residents in 2003, 13.6% had arrived since 2000, 36.6% came in the 1990s, 24% came in the 1980s, 13.7% came in the 1970s, and 12.2% arrived before 1970 (Luke J. Larsen, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2003, P20-551, Current Population Reports, Washington, DC, August 2004).

National Origins of Naturalized Citizens

For much of the twentieth century, quotas established by immigration legislation favored persons from Europe, resulting in higher numbers of naturalizations from European countries. Once the quotas ended with the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments in 1965, the regional origin of persons immigrating and naturalizing shifted to Asian countries. Asian immigrants historically had higher naturalization rates than other immigrants. With increased legal immigration from such Western Hemisphere countries and regions as Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean beginning in the mid-1980s, the share of naturalizations from those areas peaked at 49% in 1996 (2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Washington DC: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, September 2004). Since 2001, Asia has been the leading region for naturalizations. In 2003, 42% of persons naturalizing were born in Asian countries compared to 28% for North American countries. Figure 3.7 illustrates the shift from European to Asian immigration during the last four decades of the twentieth century. The decade-by-decade growth in naturalization of immigrants from North America is also shown. From just 20.9% of FIGURE 3.6
U.S. citizenship of the foreign-born, by year of entry, 2003
SOURCE: Luke J. Larsen, "Figure 5. U.S. Citizenship of the Foreign-Born by Year of Entry: 2003," in The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2003, Current Population Reports, P20-551, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2004, http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-551.pdf (accessed January 24, 2005) naturalizations in the 1961–70 period, naturalizations from North America rose to 40% by the 1991–2000 period.

The USCIS 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics identified Mexico as the leading country of birth of persons naturalized in 2003, accounting for 56,093 new citizens. Other countries contributing large numbers to 2003 naturalizations were India (29,790), the Philippines (29,081), Vietnam (25,995), the People's Republic of China (24,014), South Korea (15,968), the Dominican Republic (12,627), Jamaica (11,232), Iran (10,807), and Poland (9,140). These ten countries represented almost half (49%) of the 463,204 new naturalized citizens in 2003.

Trends in Naturalization

In 2003 the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization, published an analysis of the recently naturalized, the pool of eight million immigrants eligible to be naturalized, and the estimated 2.7 million legal immigrants soon-to-be eligible (Michael E. Fix, Jeffrey S. Passel, and Kenneth Sucher, Trends in Naturalization, Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, September 17, 2003). Noting the shift in sources of immigrants from Europe to Asia and Latin America, the study considered naturalization rates for immigrants from those three regions. Immigrants from Mexico were considered separately because Mexico had become the largest source country for immigrants. In 2001, 67% of eligible immigrants from Asia were naturalized, a greater rate of naturalization than for immigrants from Europe and Canada (65%). Eligible immigrants from Latin America lagged behind with 58% naturalized; Mexico was farther behind with 34% of eligible immigrants naturalized. (See Figure 3.8.)

Figure 3.9 illustrates three areas of concern about future naturalization candidates—limited English skills, little formal education, and low incomes. The study FIGURE 3.7
Persons naturalized, by decade and selected region of birth, 1961–2000
SOURCE: "Chart M. Persons Naturalized by Decade and SelectedRegion of Birth: Fiscal Years 1961–2000," in 2000 StatisticalYearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S.Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, September 2002, http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/yearbook/2000/Yearbook2000.pdf (accessed February 24, 2005) found that 52% of the recently naturalized had only limited English proficiency. By contrast, 60% (about 3.5 million adults) of the legal immigrant population currently eligible to naturalize and 67% (about 1.5 million adults) of the soon-to-be eligible had only limited English skills. The study suggested that publicly supported English classes and civics courses might be needed to help this population achieve the language skills and knowledge of American history and government required for citizenship.

In education, the study described two significant clusters of immigrants—those with less than a high school education and those with college degrees. Compared to 9% of the recently naturalized with less than a ninth-grade education, 25% of current and 21% of soon-to-be eligible candidates for naturalization had less than a ninth-grade education. This suggested that literacy was a significant issue, in addition to English language skills, in preparing this group of immigrants to qualify for citizenship. The study also found that, while 35% of the recently naturalized had bachelor's degrees or higher, just 23% of currently eligible and 30% of the soon-to-be eligible held such degrees. (See Figure 3.9.)

FIGURE 3.8
Percent naturalized among legal immigrants eligible to naturalize, by region of birth, 1995 and 2001
SOURCE: Michael Fix, Jeffrey S. Passel, and Kenneth Sucher, "Figure 3. Percent Naturalized among Legal Immigrants Eligible to Naturalize, by Region of Birth: 1995 and 2001," in Trends in Naturalization, Brief No. 3, Immigrant Families and Workers: Facts and Perspectives, Immigration Studies Program, The Urban Institute, September 2003, http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310847_trends_in_naturalization.pdf (accessed February 3, 2005)

In addition, the study found a far greater share of the future naturalization candidates had incomes under 200% of the poverty level. The study noted that the combination of limited English skills, low level of education, and low income presented greater barriers to naturalization. (See Figure 3.9.)