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Nudging naturalization

Nature Human Behaviour volume 3, pages 660–661 (2019)Cite this article

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How can we improve citizenship rates among low-income immigrants? While reducing costs helps, a new study suggests that an information nudge about eligibility for such fee waivers can result in a significant increase in naturalization applications among low-income individuals in the US.

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References

  1. Enchautegui, M. E. & Giannarelli, L. The Economic Impact of Naturalization on Immigrants and Cities. Urban Institute https://www.urban.org/research/publication/economic-impact-naturalization-immigrants-and-cities (2015).

  2. Laitlin, T. B. A. A low-cost information nudge increases citizenship application rates among low-income immigrants. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-572-z (2019).

  3. Le, T. V., Pastor, M., Scoggins, J., Gonzalez, D. & Ramirez, B. Paths to Citizenship: Using Data to Understand and Promote Naturalization. CSII Research Brief (Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, University of Southern Calfornia, Los Angeles, 2019).

  4. Corser, M. 2016 C4C Impact Report. Cities for Citizenship http://www.citiesforcitizenship.com/s/2016-Impact-Report.pdf (2016).

  5. Immigration Direct. USCIS assists low-income naturalization applicants. Immigration Direct Blog https://www.immigrationdirect.com/blog/2017/02/uscis-assists-low-income-naturalization-applicants/ (2017).

  6. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Immigration and citizenship data. https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data (2018).

  7. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Check case processing times. https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ (2019)

  8. Jayapal, P. & Pastor, M. Why is the U.S. so far behind on naturalizing new citizens? Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-jayapal-pastor-citizenship-backlog-20180907-story.html (2018).

  9. Gelbaum, E. Building a Second Wall: USCIS Backlogs Preventing Immigrants from Becoming Citizens. National Partnership for New Americans http://www.immigrationresearch-info.org/system/files/NPNA_Report_-_USCIS_Building_Second_Wall.pdf (2017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Manuel Pastor

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  1. Manuel Pastor
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Correspondence to Manuel Pastor.

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Cite this article

Pastor, M. Nudging naturalization. Nat Hum Behav 3, 660–661 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0579-5

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