U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services celebrated the Declaration of Independence by hosting naturalization ceremonies across the United States from July 1 through July 7. USCIS began to conduct limited naturalization ceremonies in May and began to fully resume ceremonies in early June, after temporarily pausing in-person services to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The ceremonies have been shorter to limit exposure to those in attendance. The government has incorporated social distancing and other safety precautions that protect the health and safety of applicants and USCIS staff. In fact, some cities are having “drive in” ceremonies in big parking lots with the applicant remaining in his/her car! USCIS has naturalized approximately 64,500 new citizens over the past month and anticipates completing nearly all postponed administrative naturalization ceremonies by the end of July.
This is good news for those applicants for U.S. citizenship who have reached the final step in the process, only to have their case stymied because of the pandemic. We know many of our clients are eager to complete the citizenship process, and this is a step in the right direction towards attaining that goal.
USCIS invites new citizens and their families and friends to share their experiences and photos from the ceremonies on social media using the hashtags #newUScitizen, and #IndependenceDay.