No fewer than 34,289 Nigerians were granted citizenship by naturalisation by the United States government between 2020 and 2022.
Latest data on the Naturalisations Annual Flow Report from the US Department of Homeland Security shows that Nigeria emerged top 20 country of birth of persons naturalised within the three year period and ranked 15th on the list.
Compiled by the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, the report pulls its numbers from Form N-400, the application form every prospective American files and include information such as the date and country of birth of the applicant, sex, marital status as well as the state of residence.
The data is also drawn from the electronic case files (Electronic Immigration system) that US Citizenship and Immigration Services use to track each applicant from fingerprinting to the oath ceremony and data from the Central Index System.
The naturalisation process confers U.S. citizenship on applicants who have fulfilled the requirements established in the US Immigration and Nationality Act, INA.
After naturalization, foreign-born citizens enjoy almost all the same benefits, rights, and responsibilities U.S. Constitution gives to U.S. citizens at birth, including the right to vote.
Meanwhile, the data shows that the number of Nigerians being granted citizenship through the naturalisation process has been on consistent increase, with the figure rising by 58.8 per cent within the three year period.
A breakdown shows that in 2020, 8,930 Nigerians obtained citizenship, representing 1.4 per cent of all the persons (628,258) granted citizenship by the US in 2020.
The number rose by 22.3 per cent to 10,921 in 2021 as US Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, worked through its pandemic backlog, resulting from an 11-week COVID-19 lockdown that temporarily halted all oath ceremonies.
In 2022, 14,438 Nigerians took the oath, an all-time high for the country and a 32 per cent jump from the previous year.
The number accounted for three per cent of all 248,553 Africans who naturalised during the period.
On regional basis, only two African nations, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, were in the global top-30 list, with Nigeria topping the list in the region, followed by the DRC, whose naturalisations almost doubled in 2022 to about 6,000.
Applicants from other African countries were bundled into the “All other countries” category.
Overall, naturalisations of Africans jumped 40 per cent between 2021 and 2022, the highest increase per region recorded.
Across all regions, Mexico accounted for 326,237 naturalisations for the three years, followed by India with 171,114 naturalisations.
The Philippines ranked third with 135,313 new Americans, Cuba (126,203), the Dominican Republic (81,303), Vietnam (80,177), the People’s Republic of China (82,376), Jamaica (57,145), El Salvador (52,399), and Colombia (48,396).
Together, the 10 countries of birth accounted for almost half of all 2.4 million naturalisations completed during the three-year window.
For decades, European immigrants dominated U.S. naturalisations. The 1965 amendments to the INA, which abolished the old national-origins quota, opened the door to Asia and, later, Africa.
The OHSS report notes that Asia overtook Europe in the 1970s. Since 2020, Africans have posted the fastest growth rate, spending a median of six years in permanent-resident status before naturalising, one year quicker than the global average.
The USCIS notes that application volumes and approvals do not always move in lockstep. Some petitions are denied, while others are decided in a later fiscal year.
The United States’ naturalisation of foreign nationals is based on its Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
USCIS, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, screens applicants, runs FBI name checks and fingerprint searches, reviews five years (three if married to a U.S. citizen) of continuous residence, and tests English literacy and civics knowledge.
According to the Department, “To be considered for naturalisation, an applicant must meet statutory and regulatory requirements and file a Form N-400, Application for Naturalisation, with appropriate documentation.
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts an investigation and examination of all naturalisation applicants, which includes completion of security and criminal background checks, review of the applicant’s complete immigration record, interview(s) with oral and written testimony, testing for English and civics requirements, and qualifications for accommodations or disability exceptions.
“Following approval, USCIS schedules applicants for a required oath ceremony before a judge or authorised executive branch official.
“Generally, to be eligible for naturalisation, applicants must be at least 18 years of age when they submit the Form N-400, establish that they have been a lawfully admitted permanent resident of the United States for at least five years at the time of filing the Form N-400, and have resided continuously in the United States for at least five years as a lawful permanent resident immediately preceding the date of filing the Form N-400 and up to the time of admission to citizenship.”
