U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved only 173,000 naturalization applications during the first eight months of 2026—-a stunning 72 percent drop from the same period a year earlier. Agency officials blame heightened vetting, a tougher English-language exam, and the diversion of examiners to re-review Biden-era cases. Community groups, however, say the slowdown is deliberate election-year strategy: fewer naturalization ceremonies mean fewer newly eligible voters before the 3 November midterms. Under revised guidance issued in January, adjudicators must now scour five years of tax returns, examine applicants’ social-media posts for “anti-American activity,” and conduct neighbor and employer interviews. Cases previously decided under the Biden administration are being reopened for “re-vetting,” further straining resources. The average processing time for an N-400 application has ballooned from six months to more than 13, and the national backlog tops 800,000 cases. Some local field offices have cancelled oath ceremonies altogether; Milwaukee hasn’t sworn in a single new citizen since January. Immigrants and employers alike are feeling the pinch. A Detroit-area engineer told The Washington Post he can no longer travel on business for fear of missing a citizenship interview, while voter-registration drives have lost a key venue for outreach. Attorneys now routinely file mandamus lawsuits—once a rarity—to force USCIS to act. Judges have begun setting strict deadlines, but litigation costs thousands of dollars that many applicants can’t afford. Policy analysts warn the bottleneck could reshape the electorate for years. Naturalized citizens made up roughly one in ten voters in the 2024 presidential election and are heavily concentrated in battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. If processing rates remain this low, hundreds of thousands of otherwise-eligible voters will be sidelined in 2026—and possibly in the 2028 presidential race. Employers that rely on dual-citizen mobility also face new uncertainty around global travel assignments. For multinational HR teams, the practical takeaway is clear: employees awaiting citizenship should expect longer timelines, prepare to document every foreign trip and online alias, and consider legal counsel early. Companies may also need contingency plans for travel-dependent staff who cannot leave the country during the extended adjudication window.
Source: The Washington Post
