Standardizing the fee-waiver application increased naturalization rates of low-income immigrants.

ABSTRACT: Citizenship can accelerate immigrant integration and result in benefits for both local communities and the foreign-born themselves. Yet the majority of naturalization-eligible immigrants in the United States do not apply for citizenship, and we lack systematic evidence on policies specifically designed to encourage take-up. In this study, we analyze the impact of the standardization of the fee-waiver process in 2010 by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). This reform allowed low-income immigrants eligible for citizenship to use a standardized form to have their application fee waived. We employ a difference-in-differences methodology, comparing naturalization behavior among eligible and ineligible immigrants before and after the policy change. We find that the fee-waiver ref

SUBMITTER: Yasenov V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6708319 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature