Citizenship-application backlog is cut, US says

Federal immigration authorities said today that most immigrants who applied for US citizenship during a tidal wave of applications last fiscal year should be sworn in and eligible to vote by the November elections.

A fee hike last year led to a surge in naturalization applications – 1.4 million by September 2007, nearly double the typical amount, triggering concerns that thousands of immigrants wouldn’t obtain citizenship in time to vote.

But US Citizenship and Immigration Services added personnel and extended its hours to speed processing. Now officials say that more than 1 million naturalization applications should be completed by September, including most of those filed last summer. The agency typically approves the vast majority of applicants, rejecting 12 percent to 15 percent a year.

The Boston office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes applications, has already finished most of last summer’s applications.

“We’re doing much better than we had anticipated in our original projections,” said spokesman Bill Wright. “It’s very good progress and we hope to do even better.”

Last year’s fee increase -- from $400 to $675 -- led to a deluge of citizenship applications, stretching the agency’s national goal of processing applications in five months to an estimated 16 months to 18 months.

Today, officials estimated the processing time will be 10 months to 12 months nationally by September, from the time the application is filed until it is decided. In Boston, the estimated processing time will be 8.8 months by then, officials said.

The longest waits by September will be more than 14 months in Hartford, Charlotte, N.C., Charleston, S.C., and New Orleans.

To apply for US citizenship, immigrants generally must have been legal residents for five years, have a basic command of English, pass a US history and civics test, have good moral character and swear allegiance to the US Constitution. They also undergo background checks for security purposes.

“USCIS is committed to providing customers with clear expectations and regular updates about the agency’s progress to reduce its backlog,” Acting USCIS Director Jonathan Scharfen said in a statement. “We are working steadily toward achieving our goal of processing all naturalization applications within five months by this time next year.”