Over 34,000 Nigerians have granted US citizenship in three years – Thage

By Ayo Kehinde

No less than 34,289 Nigerians have acquired citizenship of the United States through the naturalization between 2020 and 2022, according to the data of the United States National Security Department.

The latest annual naturalization flow relationship places Nigeria 15 among the first 20 birth countries for new American citizens in the period of three years, making it the highest African nation on the list.

The report, completed by The Office of Homeland Security Statistics, draws from the applications of the N-400 module presented by potential citizens and data from the USCIS systems of Citizenship and Immigration Services), including files of electronic cases and the central index system.

A rupture of the number shows that 8,930 Nigerians have become US citizens in 2020, representing 1.4 percent of 628,258 naturalized people that year. The figure increased by 22.3 percent in 2021 to 10,921 while Uscis worked through his backward backward by the pandemic. In 2022, the number increased to a maximum of 14,438, marking a 32 % increase on an annual basis and the highest annual total ever recorded for Nigerian candidates.

Overall, the three -year period saw a growth of 58.8 percent of the naturalizations between the Nigerians, which constituted three percent of the 248,553 Africans granted US citizenship in the same period.

At the regional level, only the Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo entered the global list of the Top-30, with Nigeria guiding the continent in naturalization number. Africa also recorded the fastest growth rate globally in 2022, with a 40 % increase in naturalizations compared to the previous year.

On a global level, Mexico has exceeded the ranking with 326,237 new citizens, followed by India (171,114), by the Philippines (135,313), Cuba (126,203), by the Dominican Republic (81.303), Vietnam (80.177), China (82,376), Jamaica (57.145), 52.39). Colombia (48.396). These 10 countries represented almost half of the 2.4 million naturalisations recorded from 2020 to 2022.

While the naturalization process of the United States is governed by the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, a reference change came with the 1965 amendment, which abolished discriminatory shares of national-original origin and opened the doors to increase immigration from Asia and Africa.

To qualify for naturalization, candidates must generally have at least five years of legitimate permanent residence – or three years if married to an American citizen – demonstrates the continuous residence and pass the knowledge of the English and civic language. They must also undergo basic checks and an interview before lending fidelity oath administered by a judge or an official official.

Naturalized citizens enjoy almost all the same rights and responsibilities as those born in the United States, including the right to vote.

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