The Rate of Naturalization: An Update

Nancy Rytina, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Christopher Campbell, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Changes in naturalization rates have potentially important public policy implications, with respect to the size and composition of the population eligible to vote and the population eligible to sponsor family members for subsequent immigration. This analysis updates and expands previous work by the Department of Homeland Security and examines the effect of demographic factors on the rate of naturalization of legal immigrants through 2004. Cox proportional hazard models are used to examine the effect of demographic factors on the rate of naturalization across the different cohorts. Model estimates for each cohort will be used to indicate the relative effect on the rate of naturalization of: gender; country/region of birth; class of admission; and age, marital status, and occupation at time of immigration.