Angela He

Making the U.S. naturalization process easier for immigrants: Naturalization rates are low in the United States compared to similar immigrant-receiving countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, despite the legal protections citizenship offers and its correlation with a range of better social and economic outcomes. This project, then, seeks to understand naturalization barriers and catalysts among legal permanent residents in the United States using qualitative methods. Specifically, it seeks to illuminate: 1) the catalysts that encourage legal permanent residents to naturalize; 2) the barriers that discourage legal permanent residents from naturalizing; and 3) the barriers and catalysts specific to immigrant groups of different backgrounds. This research will complement quantitative findings from a collaborative, large-scale nudge study conducted between the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab. Study results will be shared with USCIS to improve “nudge” letters to encourage naturalization, which will eventually be sent to eligible legal permanent residents in a randomized control trial.