At least 34,289 Nigerians were granted United States citizenship through naturalisation between 2020 and 2022, according to the latest Naturalisations Annual Flow Report released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The report, compiled by the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, shows that Nigeria ranked 15th globally among the top 20 countries of birth for individuals who became U.S. citizens within the three-year period.
It draws data from Form N-400 — the official application for naturalisation — and tracks applicants via the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) electronic case system, which covers every stage from fingerprinting to the oath ceremony. Additional data is also sourced from the Central Index System.
Naturalisation is the legal process by which foreign nationals acquire U.S. citizenship after meeting certain criteria under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Once naturalised, foreign-born individuals gain nearly all the rights and responsibilities accorded to citizens by birth — including the right to vote.
The number of Nigerians naturalising has steadily risen over the three-year span, increasing by 58.8%. In 2020, 8,930 Nigerians were naturalised, representing 1.4% of the 628,258 total U.S. naturalisations that year. In 2021, as USCIS worked through a pandemic-induced backlog caused by an 11-week COVID-19 lockdown, the number increased by 22.3% to 10,921.
The upward trend continued in 2022, with 14,438 Nigerians taking the oath — an all-time high. This marked a 32% jump from the previous year and accounted for 3% of all 248,553 Africans naturalised during the three-year window.
Regionally, Nigeria led African countries in U.S. naturalisations, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which saw its numbers nearly double in 2022 to about 6,000. Applicants from other African nations were grouped under “All other countries.”
The report highlighted that Africa recorded the fastest regional growth in naturalisation, with a 40% increase between 2021 and 2022.
Globally, Mexico topped the chart with 326,237 naturalisations from 2020 to 2022, followed by India (171,114), the Philippines (135,313), Cuba (126,203), the Dominican Republic (81,303), Vietnam (80,177), China (82,376), Jamaica (57,145), El Salvador (52,399) and Colombia (48,396). These ten countries together accounted for nearly half of the 2.4 million people who became U.S. citizens during the three-year period.
Historically, European immigrants made up the bulk of U.S. naturalisations. But the 1965 amendments to the INA — which abolished the national-origins quota system — opened the doors to broader immigration from Asia and later Africa. According to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Asia surpassed Europe in the 1970s, and since 2020, Africa has recorded the fastest growth rate.
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The report also noted that African immigrants typically spend a median of six years as lawful permanent residents before naturalising — one year shorter than the global average.
The USCIS clarified that “application volumes and approvals do not always move in lockstep,” since some applications are denied or processed in later fiscal years.
The U.S. naturalisation process is governed by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. USCIS, under the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for screening applicants, conducting background checks in collaboration with the FBI, and verifying compliance with continuous residency requirements — five years, or three if married to a U.S. citizen — among other eligibility criteria.
According to the Department: “To be considered for naturalisation, an applicant must meet statutory and regulatory requirements and file a Form N-400, Application for Naturalisation, with appropriate documentation.
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts an investigation and examination of all naturalisation applicants, which includes completion of security and criminal background checks, review of the applicant’s complete immigration record, interview(s) with oral and written testimony, testing for English and civics requirements, and qualifications for accommodations or disability exceptions.
“Following approval, USCIS schedules applicants for a required oath ceremony before a judge or authorised executive branch official.”
Eligibility also requires applicants to be at least 18 years old at the time of filing, have lawfully held permanent resident status for at least five years, and have continuously resided in the United States throughout that period and up to the time of naturalisation
