Which USCIS Offices Process Citizenship Applications Fastest (And What That Means for the November Election)
If you plan to apply for U.S. citizenship through naturalization in January of this year, it is highly likely that you will be able to exercise your right to participate and vote in the Presidential election on the first Tuesday in November of this year.
An analysis of USCIS Form N-400 processing times shows that at 78 of the agency’s 88 offices nationwide, the length of the process will allow new citizens plenty of time. take the oath of office as new citizens, register to vote, and vote.
And on average, across all offices located throughout the country, processing applications for citizenship takes 8.25 months.
The office with the longest processing time is in Charlotte Amelie, Virgin Islands, with a delay of 13.5 months, followed by the office in Norfolk, Virginia, with a wait of up to 13 months.
In turn, the office with the shortest turnaround time is in Cleveland, Ohio, with a 5.5-month wait, followed by the Cincinnati, Ohio office with a 6-month wait.
Offices with the longest waits
Processing Time Tool ( time processing) USCIS shows that the offices with the longest Form N-400 processing times are:
- Charlotte Amelie (Virgin Islands): 13.5 months
- Norfolk (Virginia): 13 months
- New Orleans (Louisiana): 12.5 months
- Nashville (Tennessee): 12 months
- Fort Meyers (Florida): 12 months
- St. Louis, Missouri: eleven months
- Lawrence (Massachusetts): 10.5 months
- Memphis (Tennessee): 10 months
- Newark (NJ): 10 months
- Raleigh (North Carolina): 10 months.
The offices with the shortest waiting times are located:
- Cleveland (Ohio): 5.5 months
- Cincinnati (Ohio): 6 months
- Columbus (Ohio): 6.5 months
- Spokane (Washington): 6.5 months
- Boston (MA): 7 months
- Dallas, Texas): 7 months
- Hialeah (Florida): 7 months
- Kendall (Florida): 7 months
- Los Angeles, California): 7 months
- Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania): 7 months
- San Bernardino (California): 7 months
- Sir. Signature. Valley (California): 7 months
- San Jose (CA): 7 months
- Seattle, Washington): 7 months
- Yakima (Washington): 7 months
The panorama was different in 2021
According to a report from Univision Noticias, 26 months ago in November 2021, the scenario completely changed. Given the delays experienced in 2016, the process for obtaining and approving Form N-400 4 to 6 months have passed. But from 2017 to the end of 2019, the process more than doubled, and the reasons remained unclear.
In 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic was declared, delays increased again due to the closure of federal government agencies, including USCIS.
In early 2021, Univision Noticias reported that some immigrants living in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Miami or New York City likely would not be able to vote in the 2022 midterm elections if they applied for citizenship at that time.
However, ten months later, these probabilities had decreased, affecting the majority of residents (green card holders) who planned to file Form N-400, as wait times, instead of decreasing, remained high, even though the midterm elections were at that time one year left.
For example, at the USCIS office in Albany (New York) in January 2021, the delay was up to 17.5 months, and in Atlanta (Georgia) the wait was up to 16 months. In Chicago the delay was about 20 months and in Seattle it was 24 months, according to the USCIS Time Processing Tool.
The USCIS database shows that as of Sept. 30 last year, the agency had 400,908 N-400 citizenship applications and 7,126 requests filed by military personnel pending determination. In turn, 1,933,785 Forms I-130 corresponding to family-based permanent residence applications were filed.