The standard waiting period for immigrants who have applied for US citizenship has doubled, following a surge of applications before and since last year’s Presidential election. The massive rise in the number of applications has resulted in a nationwide backlog of over 708,000, according to KPCC, a media partner of NBC4.
The processing time in Los Angeles County has risen from a standard of five months to seven, and now, ten months. Legal service providers say that legal residents worried about the rhetoric of Donald Trump caused the spike in applications before the 2016 election, wanting to ensure they were protected in the event of a crackdown on immigrants.
But, according to Alma Rosa Nieto, an immigration attorney based in Los Angeles, the use of a longer application form than used during the time of the President Barack Obama administration has increased waiting times. She also cites an increase in the stringency of the vetting of new applicants wanting to become US citizens, under the President Donald Trump administration.
Officials with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services say that they are doing their best to try and get the situation under control and fix the backlog. In a statement made to KPCC, the agency said that they are allocating extra overtime for employees and recruiting new staff members across the US to fill vacancies and ensure the increase in processing times is addressed.