Newly released data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows massive fluctuations in naturalization applications and an overall drop in naturalization rates. This means USCIS approved less people for U.S. citizenship, despite receiving more applications. According to NPR, this trend reflects the government’s adoption of increasingly strict immigration policies in real time.
Approval and Denial Increases
According to the USCIS data, approval rates for naturalization began climbing in January, 2025. The increase in naturalization denials began soon after. This trend peaked in April 2025, when USCIS approved over eighty-eight thousand naturalization applications and denied over eight thousand applications for naturalization. This means the rate of denial for naturalization was statistically one out of every eleven applicants.
Changes Since April, 2025
In the past twelve months, the approval and denial rates both decreased dramatically. According to NPR, the USCIS received over one hundred and sixty-nine thousand naturalization applications in October 2025 alone. However, the agency only processed about sixty-five thousand naturalization applications. This means over one hundred thousand applications got sent to the backlog. The peak in applications for October is mostly due to the announcement of the new citizenship test.
However, the month saw only forty-one thousand people applying for naturalization. Finally the government paused naturalization applications for thirty-nine countries between December 2025 and January 2026. These changes and cancellations impacted thousands of prospective naturalization applicants. As a result, the number of submitted and accepted naturalization application’s decreased dramatically.
The government explained said measures help immigration agents properly vet all applicants for potential national security and public safety threats. According to NPR, the rise in naturalization application rates directly related to the increasingly strict and unpredictable immigration landscape. Changes such as a new citizenship test, neighborhood checks, and the emphasis on a “good moral character” as a requirement for naturalization are the main reason for said unpredictability.
As always, ILBSG actively monitors ongoing U.S. immigration news. If you have questions about any U.S. immigration related issue, contact us. Working with an experienced attorney ensures you get the right advice based on the most recent laws. In an ever-evolving immigration policy landscape, it’s particularly critical you get the right advice.