New vetting requirements for aspiring U.S. citizens

Applying to become a US citizen is no longer a personal, confidential matter.

Under a new policy memo issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, the neighbors, co-workers, employers, or business associates of a US citizenship applicant will not only be privy to, but will get to play a crucial role in, the naturalization process.

The memo is based on an existing statute, Section 335(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which directs the USCIS to conduct investigations of individuals applying to become US citizens, unless the Secretary of Homeland Security waives the requirement.

Called neighborhood investigations, the scrutiny covers at least the preceding five-year period before the filing of the citizenship application. It geographically encompasses the vicinity of the applicant’s place of residence and location of employment. Relevant vetting points include the applicant’s residency, good moral character, and positive aspiration towards the good order and happiness of the United States, among others.

Notably, the law allows the USCIS to waive the requirement as a matter of administrative discretion, individually in specific cases or generally for certain classes of applications. In fact, the USCIS has, prior to the advent of the new policy, generally waived the neighborhood vetting mandate for reasons of expediency, relying instead on the FBI’s biometrics and criminal records databases to ferret out unqualified applicants.

From a historical perspective, aspiring US citizens were originally required to submit testimonials from at least two witnesses to prove their naturalization qualifications, beginning in the early 19th century up to the early 1980s. In 1981, the US Congress eliminated the two-witness rule and replaced it with an investigation-based policy, which included neighborhood and workplace vetting. By 1991, however, the then Immigration and Naturalization Service (now USCIS) had all but abandoned the practice of conducting neighborhood investigations altogether.

Those days of waived neighborhood scrutiny are over.

From now on, every naturalization applicant must, as part of the initial application process, be ready to provide corroborating evidence in the form of affidavits or written testimonials from neighbors, co-workers, employers, or business associates to prove the applicant’s good moral character, stable residency, and sympathy towards the ideals and good happiness of the United States.

Failure to provide such evidence in the first instance, or giving low-quality proofs thereof, can trigger the issuance of a Request for Evidence, or worse, actual physical visits by USCIS investigators to conduct in-person interviews of the applicant’s neighbors and co-workers.

Thus, in a practical sense, this is not a good time for aspiring US citizens to start a shouting match with a neighbor about a leafy tree branch encroaching over the fence, for instance, or to complain about dog poo dumped on your front yard by the neighbor’s Cavapoo.

Nor is it an opportune time to begin spreading dirty tittle-tattles about a co-worker’s dating habits or about a cubby mate’s secret dalliance with the boss.

Obviously, the last thing an aspiring US citizen needs is a boorish neighbor with a grudge or a ticked-off colleague in a payback mood.

Considering that most people on petty vendetta missions always find the idea of cooking someone else’s goose extremely appealing, avoiding social acrimony is a must for every prospective US citizenship applicant.