Chicago’s citizenship pipeline has gone from packed ceremonies to a trickle: fewer than 3,800 people have been naturalized in the Northern Illinois federal court district so far this year, versus nearly 33,000 in 2022. The more-than-80% plunge is colliding with a November deadline for permanent residents who hoped to finish the process in time to vote.
Chicago-area citizenship ceremonies have nearly vanished
An analysis by ABC7 Chicago of Northern District of Illinois court data found that naturalizations have fallen more than 80% in 2026. The figure tracks completed naturalizations through the federal court district, not every pending Form N-400 application, but the drop is still far beyond an ordinary month-to-month wobble.
The Northern District’s ceremonies have historically taken place at courthouses and community venues across the region. An official court account shows that a June ceremony at the Rockford Public Library welcomed 53 new citizens from 20 countries, a reminder that ceremonies are still happening even as the overall pace has slowed sharply.
Delays are landing at the final step of the process
That distinction matters because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services describes the oath ceremony as the final step in naturalization. Under the agency’s process, applicants move through biometrics, an interview and testing before taking the Oath of Allegiance; USCIS says applicants are not citizens until that oath is completed.
Immigration attorney Kathleen Vannucci told ABC7 Chicago that USCIS has completed only about 40% as many cases as it did a year earlier, creating what she described as continued backlogs and unnecessary delays. Chief Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois also said she has seen the effect of fewer ceremonies, while USCIS said it is applying more rigorous screening and will not take shortcuts in the naturalization process.
The numbers do not establish one single reason for every stalled case, and they do not show how many applicants are waiting at each stage. They do show that the final stretch to citizenship has become dramatically narrower in the Chicago area this year.
For permanent residents who filed with enough time to become citizens before the November midterms, the slowdown may now determine whether they can participate in that election. A process that can already take years is stretching further, leaving applicants to wait for the one ceremony that changes their legal status.
