Dataset Information

Standardizing the fee-waiver application increased naturalization rates of low-income immigrants.

ABSTRACT: Citizenship can accelerate immigrant integration and result in benefits for both local communities and the foreign-born themselves. Yet the majority of naturalization-eligible immigrants in the United States do not apply for citizenship, and we lack systematic evidence on policies specifically designed to encourage take-up. In this study, we analyze the impact of the standardization of the fee-waiver process in 2010 by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). This reform allowed low-income immigrants eligible for citizenship to use a standardized form to have their application fee waived. We employ a difference-in-differences methodology, comparing naturalization behavior among eligible and ineligible immigrants before and after the policy change. We find that the fee-waiver reform increased the naturalization rate by 1.5 percentage points. This amounts to about 73,000 immigrants per year gaining citizenship who otherwise would not have applied. In contrast to previous research on the take-up of federal benefits programs, we find that the positive effect of the fee-waiver reform was concentrated among the subgroups of immigrants with lower incomes, language skills, and education levels, who typically face the steepest barriers to naturalization. Further evidence suggests that this pattern is driven by immigration service providers, who are well-positioned to help the most needy immigrants file their fee-waiver requests.

SUBMITTER: Yasenov V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6708319 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Standardizing the fee-waiver application increased naturalization rates of low-income immigrants.

Yasenov Vasil V Hotard Michael M Lawrence Duncan D Hainmueller Jens J Laitin David D DD

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20190806 34

Citizenship can accelerate immigrant integration and result in benefits for both local communities and the foreign-born themselves. Yet the majority of naturalization-eligible immigrants in the United States do not apply for citizenship, and we lack systematic evidence on policies specifically designed to encourage take-up. In this study, we analyze the impact of the standardization of the fee-waiver process in 2010 by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). This reform allowed low-i ...[more]

PMID: 31387978

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Project description:Importance:Federal policy changes in 2002 and 2009 led some states to expand public health insurance coverage to non-US-born children and pregnant women who are lawful permanent residents during their first 5 years of residency in the United States. In other states, there were concerns that insurance expansion could attract immigrants to relocate to gain free health insurance coverage. Objective:To examine whether expansion of public health insurance to non-US-born, lawful permanent resident children and pregnant women during their first 5 years of residency is associated with increased interstate migration among these groups. Design, Setting, and Participants:This difference-in-differences analysis included data on 208?060 immigrants from the American Community Survey from 2000 through 2016, with analysis including all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study sample included 2 treatment groups that became eligible under the expanded coverage: lawful permanent resident adults with at least 1 non-US-born child younger than 18 years (n?=?36?438) and lawful permanent resident women of reproductive age (n?=?87?418). Control groups that remained ineligible under the expanded coverage included lawful permanent resident adults without non-US-born children (n?=?171?622), lawful permanent resident single men (n?=?56?142), and lawful permanent resident postreproductive women (n?=?15?129). A difference-in-differences design compared migration rates between eligible and ineligible immigrant groups before and after insurance coverage expansions. Data analysis was performed from November 3, 2018, to May 31, 2019. Exposures:Public health insurance coverage for immigrant women and children who were lawful permanent residents within 5 years of residency. Main Outcomes and Measures:Migration to a health expansion state from any other state and from a neighboring state. Results:Of 208?060 immigrants (47% women in the weighted sample; mean [SD] age, 32.97 [12.94] years; 63% Hispanic), the mean (SD) annual move rate across the entire sample was 3% (17%). Expansion of public health insurance to non-US-born children or pregnant women within their first 5 years of residency was not associated with interstate movement for health care benefits. Coverage expansion for non-US-born children of lawful permanent residents was not associated with a change in the rate of in-migration higher than 1.78 percentage points or lower than -1.28 percentage points. The corresponding estimate for coverage expansion of lawful permanent resident pregnant women was a change higher than 1.38 percentage points and lower than -1.20 percentage points. Conclusions and Relevance:The results suggest that states considering expanding health care benefits coverage to recently arrived immigrant children and pregnant women may be unlikely to experience in-migration of these persons from other states, which has important implications for understanding short- and long-term program costs.

Dataset Information

Standardizing the fee-waiver application increased naturalization rates of low-income immigrants.

Publications

Standardizing the fee-waiver application increased naturalization rates of low-income immigrants.

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