USCIS decided approximately 71,000 naturalization cases between April and June 2026, down from about 265,000 during the same quarter a year earlier, a 73% drop documented in the agency's own quarterly data. The decline, first reported by Bloomberg Law, comes alongside rising denial rates at specific field offices and a national average wait time that has more than doubled since January.
The slowdown affects lawful permanent residents waiting to become citizens, including people hoping to vote, reunite with family, or secure protection from deportation that citizenship would provide. USCIS has not disputed the numbers; a spokesman instead described the change as a deliberate tightening of screening standards, while the Department of Homeland Security publicly promoted the decline as a policy achievement.
What the Quarterly Numbers Show
USCIS's own data for the April-through-June quarter put naturalization decisions at roughly 71,000, compared with approximately 265,000 in the same three-month period the previous year. That is a reported 73% year-over-year decline, and approvals fell 75% compared with the prior quarter. A review of data stretching back to late 2017 found the agency at its lowest point for naturalization decisions in that span, even though applications have also recently declined.
Denial rates climbed sharply in at least two named field offices. In Los Angeles, the denial rate more than doubled to over 18%. In Baltimore, it jumped to 35% from less than 7% in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.
USCIS and DHS Response
A USCIS spokesman, Zach Kahler, framed the decline as the result of deliberate policy choices rather than a processing failure, saying the agency is reinforcing vetting standards so that citizenship is reserved for qualified applicants. DHS separately promoted the drop on social media as a success tied to the administration's broader immigration agenda.
Advocates offered a sharply different characterization. Lucia Martel Dow, director of the New Americans Campaign at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, called the pattern in the data an unprecedented cliff in naturalization decisions.
Policy Changes Tied to the Slowdown
USCIS introduced a more stringent civics test for naturalization late last year and expanded the "good moral character" standards officers use to evaluate citizenship applications. A former supervisor at the agency's Detroit field office, Douglas Pierce, said officers have also been pressed to justify any use of discretion in favor of an applicant, reversing a prior dynamic in which denials were harder to issue.
Interview requirements have also expanded elsewhere in the system. A former USCIS service center director, Jonathan Micale, said roughly a fifth of employment-based green card applicants previously had to sit for interviews, while nearly all now must do so.
Applications Are Dropping Too
Trump's return to office last year initially drove a short-term surge in naturalization filings as immigrants sought status that would be harder to revoke. Applications have since fallen, which advocates attribute to a chilling effect from the broader enforcement climate.
The decline in filings varies by city. Naturalization applications fell 35% in the Seattle field office, 40% in Chicago, and 48% in Phoenix during the third quarter of fiscal 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier. USCIS adopted a policy in August reintroducing neighborhood investigations of citizenship applicants, which Pierce said could further discourage people from applying.
How Long Applicants Are Waiting
The average wait time for a naturalization application stood at just over seven months at the start of the year. By August, it had risen to more than a year. Former USCIS official Michael Valverde said the agency had previously targeted wait times below six months nationally.
Field Office Variation
Wait times differ significantly depending on location. Baltimore, Boise, Fort Myers, and Fresno all report wait times of 15 months or more, while the shortest reported wait times are around 9 months.
The Gap Between Approval and the Oath
Baltimore immigration attorney Matthew Glinsmann identified a newly lengthened delay between interview approval and the oath ceremony, where applicants formally become citizens. He said an oath ceremony would normally follow approval by one to two months, but he now has clients approved in January who were not given an oath date until September.
Why the Oath Delay Matters
Alexandra Olins, director of employment and citizenship services at Asian Counseling and Referral Service in Seattle, said an applicant is not a citizen until taking the oath, and that prolonged delays could carry serious consequences for parents whose children are approaching age 18 and depend on a parent's naturalization. USCIS does not publicly track the time elapsed between approval and the oath ceremony.
Clinch Law Legal Analysis
Sources
This article provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration outcomes depend on individual facts and current law.
Bloomberg Law's reporting shows USCIS decided about 71,000 naturalization cases between April and June 2026, down from roughly 265,000 a year earlier, a 73% drop. For pending applicants, this translates into longer practical waits at every stage: interview scheduling, final decision, and—separately—the gap between approval and the oath ceremony, which the report says has stretched from one to two months historically to as long as eight or nine months in at least one described case. Anyone with a pending N-400, or planning to file one, should expect the published average wait time figures cited in the reporting (roughly seven months at the start of the year versus over a year as of August) to be unreliable predictors for specific field offices, since the article describes wide variation, with some offices at 15 months or more and others near 9 months.
The legal basis for these operational changes is not established in the available reporting beyond general references to a new civics test, expanded 'good moral character' review, added interview mandates, and an August policy described as reintroducing neighborhood investigations. No rule text, Federal Register notice, or USCIS policy manual citation is quoted in the article, so the precise legal mechanism, its effective date, and whether it was adopted through formal rulemaking or internal guidance cannot be confirmed here. USCIS's spokesperson described the changes as reinforcing 'robust screening and vetting,' while advocates quoted in the piece attribute both the enforcement posture and a parallel drop in new filings to fear among applicants. Both explanations come from named sources in the article rather than from an agency rule text, and the underlying operational basis remains unverified pending primary-source confirmation.
Questions Clients Are Asking#
Why is my naturalization case taking so much longer than I expected?
Bloomberg Law's reporting indicates that USCIS decided about 73% fewer naturalization cases nationally between April and June 2026 than in the same period the prior year, and that average national wait times rose from just over seven months at the start of the year to over a year by August. The report attributes part of the slowdown to new civics testing, expanded 'good moral character' review, and added interview mandates, though the underlying policy texts are not quoted in the article itself.
I was approved at my naturalization interview—why haven't I been scheduled for my oath ceremony yet?
The reporting describes a newly identified delay between interview approval and the oath ceremony, citing an attorney who said clients approved in January were not given an oath date until September, compared with a historical one-to-two-month gap. The article notes USCIS does not publicly track this interval, so no official timeline or explanation is confirmed in the record; you remain a lawful permanent resident, not a citizen, until the oath is administered.
Does USCIS acknowledge that approvals have dropped, and why?
Yes. A USCIS spokesperson quoted in the reporting stated that the agency is 'reinforcing robust screening and vetting' and has 'implemented reforms to ensure U.S. citizenship is reserved for those who qualify.' DHS separately highlighted the decline in naturalizations on social media, per the article, though neither statement in the record specifies the particular regulatory or policy provisions driving the numeric decline.
Is the slowdown the same everywhere, or does it depend on which field office handles my case?
The reporting indicates wait times are not uniform. It cites Baltimore, Boise, Fort Myers, and Fresno as having wait times of 15 months or more, with the shortest reported wait times around 9 months elsewhere. Denial rates also varied sharply by office, with Los Angeles' denial rate reported to have doubled to more than 18% and Baltimore's rising to 35% from under 7% in the prior year's comparable quarter.
Should I even bother applying for naturalization right now given fears about increased scrutiny?
The article reports that advocates attribute a recent drop in new naturalization filings—down 35% in Seattle, 40% in Chicago, and 48% in Phoenix in the relevant quarter—partly to fear generated by the broader immigration enforcement environment, including an August policy described as reintroducing neighborhood investigations of citizenship applicants. The record does not establish legal advice on whether to file; it only documents reported applicant hesitancy and the described policy change.