 NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP UPDATE
An audit of INS naturalization procedures by a private company, KPMG Peat Marwick, reveals that quality controls are decreasing the risks of erroneous naturalizations. The audit focused on four primary areas: fingerprinting, file transfer requests, supervisory review of complex cases and cases involving criminal convictions, and a final reverification that all procedures have been properly followed. KPMG has been auditing the INS for about two years, over which time the Service has shown steady increases in quality control. This improvement is particularly impressive in light of the number of naturalization applications the INS has been adjudicating in recent months. To ensure improved processing continues, the INS has hired 42 quality assurance personnel, one of whom will be placed in each district office.
This month Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, passed the US citizenship test and will take the oath of loyalty in July. He missed only one question, and his wife missed none. Sergei moved to the US in 1991 as a visiting professor at Brown University. He received a green card in 1993.
During the first six months of fiscal year 1999 (October 1998 through March 1999) 155,436 people were granted citizenship. This represents a 50% increase over the same time period from the previous year.
In Central Florida, the INS hopes to naturalize 8000 people during fiscal year 1999. This would be a 100% increase over 1998, and an 800% increase over 1997, when only 1000 people were naturalized. The Orlando, Florida, office hopes that if it meets its goal for naturalizations during 1999, the waiting period for applicants may be reduced to 12 months.
INS records reveal a staggering increase in the percentage of citizenship denials, up 251% over the first six-month of the 1999 fiscal year from 1998. Officials say one reason for this was its practice of setting aside the cases most unlikely to be decided favorable; during the end of 1998 the agency began ruling on these cases. However, the INS also acknowledges that bureaucratic slip-ups may be responsible for some of the denials. Apparently when the INS changed its computer system last year, many home addresses were lost, resulting in numerous denials. Another address problem is found in the agency’s failure to record change of address forms sent in by applicants.
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