U.S. citizenship applicants faced an August backlog of 813,453 cases and a 12.7-month average processing time, while The Washington Post reported delays could keep some from finishing before the Nov. 3 midterms.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) listed 813,453 pending Form N-400 applications in its August 2026 monthly report. The same report gave an average processing time of 12.7 months. That figure is a monthly-series average, not a promised wait for every applicant.
The Washington Post reported that USCIS approved 173,000 naturalization applications from January through August 2026, 72% fewer than during the same months of 2025. It also reported that denials fell 41% over that comparison period.
Other reports tracked the second quarter. The Associated Press reported about 58,000 approvals from April through June 2026, less than one-quarter of the total for April through June 2025. Bloomberg Law reported about 71,000 total decisions in the 2026 quarter, compared with about 265,000 a year earlier. The first figure counts approvals; the second covers all decisions.
USCIS resumed personal investigations of naturalization applicants under a policy alert dated Aug. 25, 2026. For applicants required to take a civics test, USCIS administers the revised version if they filed Form N-400 on or after Oct. 20, 2025. The Federal Register notice says the change did not alter the English-language portions of the test. USCIS describes its reforms as intended to ensure citizenship goes to eligible applicants, but the reported data do not show how much either policy change contributed to the decline.
USCIS says applicants become U.S. citizens when they take the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony. The Washington Post reported that delays may keep some from completing the process before Nov. 3. Bloomberg Law reported that citizenship can affect a person's ability to sponsor certain relatives and protection from deportation.
Lucia Martel Dow, director of the New Americans Campaign at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told Bloomberg Law the decline was “unprecedented.” A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The Washington Post, “Naturalization is a privilege, not a right.” The Nov. 3 midterm election is the next milestone for applicants seeking to complete the process in time.
