Three individuals maintain U.S. flags as they wait to be sworn in as American residents at a naturalization ceremony on the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Three individuals maintain U.S. flags as they wait to be sworn in as American residents at a naturalization ceremony on the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

About 967,400 grownup immigrants took the oath of allegiance and have become U.S. residents this previous fiscal 12 months, in accordance with a new report launched by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The report excessive comes because the federal authorities works to cut back a backlog of functions that was worsened by the pandemic.

There have been solely two different instances recorded in U.S. historical past when the variety of adults naturalized was better than fiscal 12 months 2022. In 1996, about 1,040,000 adults grew to become U.S. residents, and in 2008, roughly 1,046,000 adults gained citizenship, in accordance with information from the Department of Homeland Security.

The 2022 fiscal 12 months’s tally of people that have been administered the oath of allegiance contains information from October 2021 via September 2022. However, it doesn’t embody youngsters who have been capable of derive citizenship via their mother and father. In complete, 1,023,200 adults and youngsters grew to become U.S. residents in 2022.

Most individuals are eligible to grow to be a U.S. citizen after they’ve lived within the U.S. as a lawful everlasting resident for a minimum of 5 years. Spouses of U.S. residents can acquire citizenship after three years. There can be a path towards citizenship for many who have served within the military.

In 2022, USCIS issued a rising variety of some visas in comparison with previous years

Every 12 months, the U.S. grants inexperienced playing cards to lots of of hundreds of international staff and their relations. In 2022, the USCIS issued a complete of 275,000 employment-based visas, which is sort of double the variety of employment-based visas issued in 2019.

Over the years, high-skilled staff from China and India have made up a good portion of those visas. But just lately, the variety of visas issued to individuals from India has outpaced these given to staff from China. From 2019 to 2022, the variety of visas given to individuals from India grew five-fold. This fiscal 12 months, they accounted for a 3rd of all employment-based visas.

In 2022, the USCIS additionally expanded the variety of out there H-2B visas, which permits American firms to rent non permanent, international staff for non-agricultural jobs. Businesses from trip resorts to seafood processors usually depend on this system to workers their seasonal work.

Demand for non permanent staff solely heightened in the course of the pandemic. USCIS sometimes points 66,000 H-2B visas annually. In 2022, the federal company added 65,000 extra visa slots in response to the labor market.

Due to COVID and a hiring freeze, the whole USCIS backlog doubled by the tip of 2021.

In 2022, with the assistance of a hiring surge, USCIS mentioned its utility backlog has been decreased by 62%. The federal company mentioned its purpose is to completely eradicate its backlog.