USCIS Sees Record Citizenship Applications Amid Backlogs and Scrutiny

(UNITED STATES) A record crush of people seeking to become Americans has pushed the nation’s immigration agency to its highest workload in at least a decade, with officials reporting 11.3 million cases pending as of the second quarter of fiscal year 2025. The surge, driven largely by a sharp rise in citizenship applications and tougher screening rules, is slowing decisions for immigrants across the system, from green card holders applying to naturalize to families waiting on long-delayed paperwork.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that handles most legal immigration processes, reached the 11.3 million mark between January and March 2025, according to internal data described by policy analysts. That pending caseload is not only the highest in recent years, it comes at a moment when the agency is actually finishing fewer cases: completions in that same period fell about 18% compared with a year earlier.

The combination of more people applying and fewer cases being closed is stretching processing times and leaving applicants anxious about their future.

The rush toward naturalization

Behind the numbers is a clear rush toward U.S. citizenship. Community groups report that the first half of 2025 brought a wave of green card holders finally deciding to file <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/n-400">Form N-400, Application for Naturalization</a>, the main paperwork required to become a citizen.

Program managers at local nonprofits, including the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, say they have seen at least double the usual inquiries for citizenship classes and application help. Many lawful permanent residents who waited on the sidelines for years now say they no longer feel safe with only a green card, especially after the Trump-era immigration crackdown and ongoing enforcement debates.

People working with new applicants describe a mix of urgency and worry:

• Permanent residents fear changing policies, closer review of past mistakes, and potential post-election shifts that could put them at risk if they do not naturalize.
• They also face a more demanding process once they decide to apply, both in terms of the civics test and the scrutiny applied to their personal lives.
• As a result, community organizations are expanding weekend workshops and group filing events, often filling every available slot within days.

Civics test change driving demand

A major driver of the recent rush is a change to the naturalization civics test that took effect on October 20, 2025.

• The updated exam increased the pool of possible civics questions from 120 to 128.
• The number of questions asked in the interview doubled from 10 to 20.
• The pass requirement remains at answering a set number correctly, but the expanded question bank gives test-takers more material to study and more chances to be caught off guard.

Advocates say many older immigrants and those with limited English now worry they might fail if they wait too long to apply. Legal service providers report an immediate surge in demand for classes and one-on-one tutoring.

• Libraries, adult schools, and faith-based groups are running crash courses focused on the new test content.
• Analysis by VisaVerge.com shows that this extra preparation is putting further strain on already thin local support networks, particularly in cities where nonprofits rely on short-term grants and volunteers.
• Applicants who cannot get into a class often turn to online materials or ask relatives to quiz them nightly.

Increased screening and procedural slowdowns

At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security has ordered tougher screening of applicants who do file.

• Officials now commonly review social media history.
• Agencies may again contact neighbors, employers, and coworkers to verify parts of an application.
• These steps echo earlier policies that had been relaxed for a time and add more manual work to each case.

This extra scrutiny slows the pace at which officers can review files and issue decisions, feeding back into the mounting backlog that already stands at 11.3 million pending cases.

Broader effects across immigration services

The backlog affects far more than just naturalization:

• When USCIS officers spend additional time on citizenship files, other case types wait longer, including:
  • work permits,
  • green card renewals,
  • family-based petitions.
• Lawyers say families hesitate to make travel plans or accept job offers because they cannot predict when documents will arrive.
• For immigrants living paycheck to paycheck, delays in work authorization renewals can mean lost wages or even loss of a job.

Despite the bottlenecks, naturalizations remain high. In 2024, about 818,500 people took the oath of allegiance and became U.S. citizens. That sits against an estimated 8 million lawful permanent residents already eligible to apply but who have not yet filed.

With the new test and continuing enforcement concerns, experts expect citizenship application volume to stay elevated, maintaining pressure on an agency still catching up from earlier slowdowns.

Funding, staffing, and capacity challenges

USCIS is primarily funded by application fees rather than general taxpayer dollars and has struggled to match staffing levels to swings in demand.

• When applications dropped during the pandemic, the agency froze hiring and warned of possible furloughs.
• Now, with citizenship applications surging, that earlier belt-tightening makes it harder to scale up quickly.
• Advocates have urged Congress and the White House to provide extra funding to reduce wait times, but major budget changes would take time to approve and implement.

Resources and guidance

Applicants seeking official guidance can find detailed information on the USCIS citizenship page at https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship, including eligibility rules, study materials for the civics test, and links to the official <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/n-400">Form N-400</a> application at https://www.uscis.gov/n-400.

Government officials stress:

Rely on official sources and recognized legal providers rather than paid “consultants” with no license, who may file incomplete or incorrect forms and cause even longer delays.

Key numbers at a glance

The applicant’s dilemma

For would-be citizens, choices are difficult: apply now and join the long queue, or wait and risk facing even tougher rules later. Many decide that the rights gained through citizenship—such as the ability to vote, hold certain federal jobs, and sponsor more relatives—outweigh the frustration of months, or sometimes years, of waiting.

Community groups say they see that calculation every day in crowded offices where families sit for hours to complete their packets, determined to secure a more stable future in the United States 🇺🇸.