USCIS States a Goal to Complete One Million Naturalization Cases in FY 2008

04 Apr 2008

Earlier this week, USCIS announced that it intends to finish over one million naturalization cases during Fiscal Year 2008, a number much greater than the amount of naturalization cases completed last year. In addition, USCIS has amended the expected time it will take to complete naturalization cases. That time is now 13-15 months, as compared to the 16-18 point projected time period the agency offered six months ago.

“By the end of the year, I expect USCIS will have finished 36 percent more naturalization cases than last year without compromising national security or the integrity of the naturalization process,” said Emilio Gonzalez, director, USCIS.

Strategies for reaching this goal include expanding the agency’s workforce by nearly 3,000 new employees, positioning employees to work in the USCIS offices most affected by the influx of naturalization requests, quadrupling the available funding for overtime pay and using offices and staff of the Asylum Office to conduct naturalization interviews.

Last year, USCIS received an exorbitant amount of naturalization filings. From June 2007 to August 2007, USCIS received nearly three million filings. In the entire previous year, the agency only received 1.8 million filings.