- Naturalization applications dropped significantly by April 2026 after a record-breaking surge in late 2025.
- Stricter requirements include a harder civics test and a holistic evaluation of good moral character.
- Processing times have increased to eight months as pending cases reached 12 million globally.
(UNITED STATES) — USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security recorded a sharp decline in naturalization applications from lawful permanent residents by April 21, 2026, after a volatile stretch that brought a record filing surge in late 2025 and a steep drop at the start of 2026.
Monthly USCIS data showed naturalization filings climbed to 169,159 in October 2025, then fell to 46,385 in January 2026. That January total marked nearly a 50% decrease from the same period in 2025.
Approvals also fell. USCIS approved 32,862 naturalization cases in January 2026, the lowest monthly figure since the agency began tracking month-by-month data in 2022.
Processing pressure has built at the same time. Pending immigration benefit cases reached nearly 12 million by April 2026, while average naturalization processing times rose to 7.8 to 8 months.
The timing of the filing surge tracked closely with a harder civics test. USCIS launched the new exam on October 20, 2025, expanding the pool of civics questions from 100 to 128. Applicants now answer 20 questions instead of 10 and must get 12 correct to pass.
USCIS described that shift as “one of many steps in an ongoing effort to restore integrity to the naturalization process.” The agency issued that statement in a news release dated Sept 17, 2025.
Another change arrived earlier. On August 15, 2025, USCIS issued a memorandum titled “Restoring a Rigorous, Holistic, and Comprehensive Good Moral Character (GMC) Evaluation Standard,” moving the review away from a checklist and toward a totality-of-circumstances standard.
That memo framed citizenship in broader terms. “US citizenship is more than a legal benefit—it represents a profound transformation into active and responsible membership in American society. GMC findings must go beyond the absence of disqualifying acts—it must reflect a genuine positive assessment of who the applicant is.”
USCIS also resumed discretionary neighborhood investigations in August 2025, reviving local residency and character checks in applicants’ communities. Taken together with the revised GMC standard, the changes created a tougher climate for Green Card Holders weighing whether to file naturalization applications.
DHS added another barrier on January 1, 2026, when it implemented a full freeze on immigration benefits for nationals from 39 countries under Presidential Proclamation 10949. The freeze covered naturalization along with other benefits.
A partial lift took effect on March 30, 2026 for some non-high-risk cases, but the restrictions remained in place for about 39 nations. The countries named in the policy included Afghanistan, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.
The filing retreat reflects more than test changes and slower case movement. Immigration experts cited in the government-backed summary tied the drop to broader anxiety about closer review of old records, tax filings and travel history, especially after USCIS shifted to a holistic moral character test.
That pressure has reached long-term permanent residents as well. Some Green Card Holders have chosen to stay in permanent resident status rather than expose their full immigration history to a fresh review tied to a citizenship filing.
Fear of denaturalization has fed that caution. The same summary linked the lower filing volume to a ramp-up in reviews of past green card approvals, a trend that has created what it described as a chilling effect on applications.
USCIS deepened those concerns in January 2026 by creating the USCIS Vetting Center, which uses AI to re-scan old applications for fraud. That added a new layer of scrutiny for applicants who might have assumed earlier filings were settled years ago.
Naturalization has long offered Green Card Holders a route to voting rights, passport access and protection from some immigration restrictions. The 2026 data suggest that many lawful permanent residents now see the process as carrying more risk, more delay, or both.
Travel has become one of the clearest pressure points. Residents from the 39 frozen countries face uncertainty about travel and document renewal while the benefits freeze remains in force for many cases.
Delays have spilled into daily life in other ways. The government-backed summary said longer processing has led to more lapses in work permits and driver’s licenses for people in the naturalization queue.
The political effect could be broad. More than 10 million eligible lawful permanent residents are estimated to be delaying citizenship, a shift that could reduce the number of new voters entering the electorate ahead of upcoming elections.
Naturalization numbers have swung before, but the pattern from late 2025 into early 2026 was abrupt. A rush to file before the civics test changed gave way within months to a filing slump, lower approvals and a larger pending inventory.
USCIS and DHS records put those turns in plain chronological order. First came the October 2025 filing peak of 169,159. Then came the new test, the broader GMC review, resumed neighborhood checks, the benefits freeze on January 1, 2026, and a January 2026 filing count of 46,385.
Approval numbers moved in the same direction. With 32,862 approvals in January 2026 and average processing times at 7.8 to 8 months, the path from filing to oath has become slower even as fewer people enter the system.
People checking these changes against official records can track USCIS naturalization announcements in the USCIS Newsroom. Broader immigration data sit with the DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics.
The moral character standard appears in the USCIS Policy Manual, and the revised exam appears in the 2025 Naturalization Test Resource Center. Those records, together with monthly USCIS case data, show why naturalization applications from Green Card Holders fell so sharply after the late-2025 rush.
What remains on the government’s books now is a citizenship system with fewer new filings, slower decisions and nearly 12 million pending immigration cases, while millions of eligible permanent residents wait on the sidelines.
