Immigrants face long waits for citizenship

SACRAMENTO, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Officials say a surge in applications means immigrants are waiting an average of 16 to 18 months to become U.S. citizens.

Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told The Sacramento Bee immigrants "shouldn't get their hopes up" that projected long delays in processing applications will be shortened.

His agency is facing criticism from some labor unions and Latino voter rights groups that hundreds of thousands of people won't be allowed to vote in November because of delays that could have been avoided, the newspaper said Wednesday.

About 1.4 million applications were filed from October 2006 to September 2007, nearly double the number filed the year before.

Gonzalez said his agency has hired several hundred new employees with a goal of creating a workforce of 3,000 people to tackle the applications, the newspaper said.