National Foundation for American Policy: Reforming the naturalization process

 
After a year of collaboration and analysis, the MIPEX researchers  found that the U.S. ranked 9th overall, receiving 62 of a total possible 100 points derived from averaging scores in seven categories: access to labor, access to education, family unification, anti-discrimination, acquiring legal status, political participation, and access to citizenship.  This overall ranking is not bad, especially when the lack of a national integration policy is taken into account. Canada, for example, which ranked third, engages in extremely detailed integration planning, in which the federal and provincial governments work together to determine both the necessary level of immigration and the types of support needed to attract new immigrants to the country.    
From a practical and political perspective, there is little doubt that the kind of labor-intensive immigration planning that goes on in many countries, as reflected in the MIPEX survey, would be difficult to replicate in the United States...
Institutional barriers to LPR status and naturalization also play a role.  MIPEX catalogs some of the  legal and policy problems that plague the naturalization process.  The study notes that U.S. naturalization fees “are now higher than in 25 of the 30 other MIPEX countries.  Half ask for just normal administrative fees similar to obtaining passports.”  The process also runs the risk of being uncertain, lacking “legal time limits (unlike in  13 MIPEX countries).  Many long and discretionary background checks also leave applicants slightly insecure about their status.” Not surprisingly, problems such as these continue to be a major obstacle to naturalization...
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