‘Over 65,960 Bharatiyas officially became US citizens, making Bharat the second-largest source country for new citizens in America after Mexico’, as per the latest Congressional report.
‘In 2022 an estimated 46 million foreign-born persons resided in the United States, approximately 14 % of the total US population of 333 million’, according to American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau.
Of these, 24.5 million, about 53 % reported their status as naturalised citizens. In its latest US Naturalisation Policy report of April 15, the independent Congressional Research Service in the fiscal year 2022, 969,380 individuals became naturalised US citizens.
It said, ‘Individuals born in Mexico represented the largest number of naturalisations, followed by persons from Bharat, Philippines, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic’.
CRS said in 2022, as many as 128,878, Mexican nationals became American citizens. They were followed by Bharatiyas (65,960), the Philippines (53,413), Cuba (46,913), Dominican Republic (34,525), Vietnam (33,246) and China (27.038).
According to CRS as of 2023, 2,831,330 foreign-born American nationals were from Bharat, which is the second largest number after Mexico’s 10,638,429. Mexico and Bharat are followed by China with 2,225,447 foreign-born American nationals. However, as many as 42 % of the Bharat-born foreign nationals living in the US are currently ineligible to become US citizens.
As of 2023, as many as 290,000 Bharat-born foreign nationals who were on Green Card or Legal Permanent Residency (LPR) were eligible for naturalisation.
CRS said in recent years, some observers have expressed concern over USCIS processing backlogs for naturalisation applications.
As of the end of FY2023, USCIS had approximately 408,000 pending naturalisation applications, down from 550,000 at the end of FY2022; 840,000 at the end of FY2021; and 943,000 at the end of FY2020.
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