11/13/17 The average processing time for United States citizenship applications used to take five to seven months – already a lengthy timeline for immigrants waiting to get their citizenship vetted and approved. A spike in applications before and after the 2016 presidential election has caused that wait time to double. Yet, immigrants by and large are not deterred from applying for citizenship.
The process itself has also gotten more laborious. After the implementation of an Obama-era policy, vetting of applications heightened. The 10 page naturalization application has instead become 20 pages, consequently taking additional time and manpower for USCIS officials to sift through.