Finding 8: Common Milestones Are Underutilized

There are times when immigrants may consider citizenship, but USCIS and other organizations miss opportunities to better inform or remind them.

Despite the wide range of backgrounds and experiences, all participants we spoke with shared the same milestones along their immigration journey based on the pace dictated by USCIS processes: naturalization eligibility and Green Card expiration and renewal. Some of these known milestones along the path from residency to citizenship are obvious catalysts with practical incentives to move forward in one’s naturalization. In fact, 15 of the 36 participants who were working on their application, applied, or had already naturalized noted the times when they became eligible or their Green Card expired as a catalyst to apply.

"The money is $600 to naturalize, but $400 to renew the Green Card, but which is not permanent… every 10 years you have to pay $400 and the price will go up. If you do two times, it's $800 already, but if you do naturalization, it's only $600." Interviewee 62

"It seems like the natural process is just to apply for your passport [referring to citizenship.] You don't have to deal with it, you know. You have to do one or the other. You renew your Green Card or you apply for your citizenship, and it's a couple of questions on a test, so why not?" Interviewee 15

Reaching Eligibility

While almost all participants understood citizenship is generally available after five years, we spoke with some marriage-based visa holders who did not realize that they were eligible sooner or that their provisional year counted toward citizenship eligibility. No one indicated that they knew they could send their application at four years and nine months after becoming a LPR. Additionally, some participants who stated they applied as soon as they were eligible did not have citizenship and Green Card dates that reflected this perception — there was a delay that they were seemingly unaware of. When questioned about it, they would often recall a life event that delayed the application start.

Green Card Renewal

Some research participants were motivated to naturalize by the long-term savings of naturalization versus multiple renewals of their Green Card. These participants were also aware that the application fees of these processes had comparable price points. However, a few who didn't have much knowledge of the process imagined citizenship was much more expensive than renewing one’s Green Card. Some interviewees who were planning to apply at the time of LPR renewal were caught off guard by the length of time it would take to obtain citizenship, and decided instead to renew so they wouldn't have to renew their Green Card.

“This time I was actually going to, when I started the process we were going to do the citizenship but then he told me that the process was, because of what had just happened ie. our current administration, it was going to take 18 months to 2 years for me to get my citizenship done and that I couldn't leave the country while that was being done. And so I had already, I think I had gotten my Green Card extended or I did go out and get my Green Card. Yeah, no we did the paperwork and then I went and got Green Card extension and he told me the same about the Green Card that was gonna take anywhere from 8 to 18 months and I got it in four weeks." Interviewee 59

"I applied for citizenship, since it got more expensive. I say, 'I'd rather spend the money on getting the citizenship than renewing it'. Like, it was about $700 for renewing it, like about $1000 for getting the citizenship. So I say, 'Well this time I'll get citizenship not renew it'." Interviewee 57

"I'm not sure [how much it costs to naturalize]. I would guess it's probably close to what we paid for permanent residency. I think all told like 1,500 and like just shy of $2,000, I imagine it's probably something like that." Interviewee S3

Dual-citizenship Policy Changes

Outside of shared immigration milestones, there are many other anticipated events based on simple demographics that could be timely interception points. For example, a very strong barrier for many was the inability to have dual citizenship. Almost all eligible LPRs with this barrier also had long wait times to naturalize, which could have increased the likelihood of not applying. When other countries change their policies regarding dual-citizenship, organizations could conduct outreach with those relevant communities.

“You know India doesn't allow dual citizenship. And so I had some attachment to my my Indian passport. And you know I was like OK am I going fine I can just renew this in perpetuity. Doesn't really matter…You know what the other thing that happened was that somewhere along the way I really couldn't tell you which year but India I started offering this overseas citizenship of India. So you know it was not like you know you wouldn't have an Indian passport. What you would have this passport looking thing which allowed you to travel freely in and out of India.” Interviewee 9

An Individual’s Timing

Fourteen of 36 participants who had long to medium waits (six years or more) received assistance from a private lawyer, nonprofit, or third party service provider on their Green Card application. Even though there are some service providers who do, those whom we spoke with miss contextual moments to intercept a LPR and talk about the benefits of naturalization and proactively engage with their LPR clients based on personalized and anticipated events in their immigration timeline. A private immigration lawyer told us she did not want to presume her LPR clients were seeking citizenship. Some nonprofits appeared to rely on individuals self-selecting to engage in conversations around citizenship. This may be an overly conservative stance, as many participants who hadn't applied yet weren't familiar with the benefits, and would have appreciated an educational approach to outreach. Many participants who hadn't contacted a nonprofit were unaware that they provided free citizenship application services, with one mentioning she didn't want to take away resources from those in need.

“I don't like to take their services from other people.” Interviewee 26"It didn't cross my mind, and I wouldn't know where to find them, I think. But I don't know, the other thing that I think is interesting is a lot of information that pertains to immigration usually comes from the specific communities. I was never really engaged into the Brazilian community. But I feel that sometimes those communities they have newspapers, they have some sort of organization. But my experience with that, which is very superficial, I felt that there was more misinformation than good information. […] I think I am a bit of an outlier, because I never really engaged into like going to church or anything like that. So that is something I didn't mention, but I think a lot of the community feeling that some people search for usually it's connected to some kind of religious organization. In that sense I'm a complete outlier." Interviewee 3

One city official from an immigration affairs office pointed out that the city itself does not have a list of their LPRs’ immigration statuses. In fact, when this city office tried to assist city staff who were eligible to apply for citizenship, they were unsuccessful in identifying which city staff were LPRs. While there may not be a centralized list of LPRs, cities and states often request information regarding immigration status for some of their public services such as housing, licenses, and health insurance.

Very rarely, participants spoke about being intercepted about citizenship by an unexpected informant, such as a tax preparer, or at an unexpected time, like when they were applying for a library card.

"First time I did the taxes, and [the accountant] suggest me to apply for the citizenship because my taxes was really low that year and she helped me to fill the waiver." Interviewee 17

“I know that they do that kind of [citizenship workshops]and stuff, like libraries and stuff host things like that…Because I just signed up for a library card a few weeks ago and the lady just was very, very enthusiastic about the library. ” Interviewee 2

Typical immigration milestones are easy points of intervention that need to be taken advantage of more. This is an opportunity to engage those within reach of advocacy groups, and to educate other service providers, like tax preparers, about the requirements and eligibility characteristics of naturalization, so that they can spread the word as well.