Latest news with #naturalization
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Calls to make naturalization more difficult emerge in parliament talks
Concerns over Japanese nationality being easier to obtain than permanent residency came up in parliament talks last month, raising the question of how to make naturalizing — a status that confers suffrage — more difficult. 'A lot more people are saying now that they'll go ahead and naturalize because getting the permit for permanent residency is difficult,' said Upper House lawmaker Hirofumi Yanagase, who urged the Justice Ministry to revise the criteria in parliament last month. Naturalization requires applicants to have lived in Japan for at least five consecutive years, half of the duration required for permanent residency. Background checks for tax insurance payments cover less — one year of records for naturalization and five years of records for permanent residency, resulting in more foreign nationals opting to apply to become Japanese citizens. There were more than 8,800 foreign nationals — mostly Chinese nationals (35%) and Koreans (25%) — who naturalized in 2024, out of some 12,000 applicants, according to the Justice Ministry's Civil Affairs Bureau. For permanent residency, more than 33,000 foreign nationals acquired the status in 2023 out of some 99,000 applicants, according to the Immigration Services Agency. Visa specialists, however, have noticed a change recently. At Haneda International Legal Firm, about 80% of foreign nationals have shifted from pursuing permanent residency to applying for naturalization, estimates founder Mari Matsumura, who assists expatriates with securing permanent residency and other permits, including working and spousal visas, and voices strong opposition to those living in the country illegally on social media. Matsumura said that foreign exchange students from developing countries — including Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — tend to choose naturalizing rather than waiting to qualify for permanent residency. 'They say they'll just naturalize if it's easier to get. For them, changing passports is like changing houses,' Matsumura said. The problem, Yanagase said, is that five-year residents 'don't have a deep enough understanding of Japan' to vote and run in elections, adding that permanent residency should precede nationalization, as it does in other countries. The U.S. requires applicants to have been permanent residents for at least three years. For applicants who have been permanent residents for less than five years, however, they must be married to, and living with, a U.S. citizen. A building housing the Justice Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Yanagase asked the ministry last month to make the criteria for naturalization stricter. | JIJI In Germany and South Korea, naturalization applicants must have been permanent residents for five years. Australia requires applicants to have lived in the country for four years and have been permanent residents for 12 months. Yanagase also voiced fears about foreign influence on domestic politics through naturalization, referring to other countries' anxiety of China's growing influence. 'My guess is that the Communist Party of China will become influential by making its members (naturalize and) run as election candidates,' said Yanagase, who proposed restricting suffrage for the first-generation of naturalized citizens and making the naturalized status revocable in cases involving individuals who pose a threat to national security. Some countries do not grant full political rights to naturalized citizens. In Qatar, citizens who are categorized as 'naturalized' rather than 'native' are barred from voting and running for legislative office –– a 'discriminatory citizenship system,' according to Human Rights Watch. In Morocco, naturalized citizens are prohibited from voting for five years following their naturalization. In the U.S., naturalized citizens are eligible to vote and run for lower offices but cannot become the president or vice president. Yanagase believes there are few other lawmakers who care about naturalization being conversely easier as the issue has rarely been brought up in parliament. 'There's no merit to talking about it. It won't attract votes,' said Yanagase, adding that 'it'll only attract criticism that it's hate (speech).' A separation in oversight — with naturalization in Japan being handled by the Legal Affairs Bureau while permanent residency is overseen by the Immigration Services Agency — is believed to be behind naturalization being easier to obtain than permanent residency.
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Erie, Pennsylvania's immigrants fueled a revival. It's now in danger of going backward
In an office overlooking downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, Saeed Taraky pulls a pen from a box beside his desk. He presses the stylus, and a small light illuminates the barrel of the pen. A message reads: Welcome to America! Welcome to Erie, PA! Create a Great Future For You and Your Family! The pens will go to new American citizens after they complete their naturalization ceremonies, which Taraky conducts. The small gift is the kind of earnest and optimistic gesture that says a lot about how this Pennsylvania city approaches new arrivals. Taraky, once a refugee from Afghanistan, is now Erie's refugee and immigrant liaison. He and his family arrived in 2022, after fleeing the Taliban's return to power, and found a welcoming community in Erie. Today, trying to provide the kind of welcome he once received, he helps newcomers resettle and coordinates an immigrant and refugee council that offers immigrant perspectives on city policies. But for city officials in Erie, creating a welcoming atmosphere for immigrants is not just about generosity. It's a path city leaders say they have chosen out of necessity. After decades of industrial decline, Erie has become a case study in how some Rust Belt cities are surviving by welcoming newcomers. Once home to more than 138,000 people, the city now has a population that hovers at 90,000. Erie's ailments have continued long into this century. For the past two decades, factories and manufacturing jobs have been leaving Erie for the South and for Mexico. A major blow came in 2018 when General Electric, the city's major employer for more than 100 years, sold its Erie branch. Faced with declining industries and population, city leaders made a bet: What if they made their city a destination for immigrants and refugees? 'Immigration can be a kind of panacea for population decline,' said Elizabeth Jones of the Welcoming Center, which promotes immigration as a catalyst for economic development in the Philadelphia area. Immigrants are more likely to be working age, start businesses, and file patents—key drivers of economic growth. Erie embraced that philosophy. Its mayor, Joe Schember, made getting the city designated a 'welcoming community' a priority. That has included promoting English classes, ensuring there are pipelines for immigrants to enter the workforce, and launching a New American Council to gather insight from immigrants and refugees themselves. Research backs their efforts: According to a report by the Economic Research Institute of Erie at The Pennsylvania State University at Erie, The Behrend College, immigrants contribute $253 million to the county economy each year, and thanks to immigration, the population has stabilized after years of decline. While many local leaders credit newcomers with strengthening the tax base, filling essential jobs, and revitalizing schools, not all politicians representing the area are as welcoming. And the progress the region has made in integrating new arrivals is now threatened by a resurgence of federal anti-immigrant policies—putting Erie's fragile revival at risk. Federal funding cuts have shaken refugee agencies. The three agencies in Erie, which provide resettlement services including housing assistance, English classes, and assistance with the health system, receive a significant portion of their budgets from the federal government. Despite multiple court orders for the Trump administration to unfreeze funding, their grants remain paused. 'Given what has happened so far, we almost have to assume the worst-case scenario,' said Katie Kretz, the executive director of the Multicultural Community Resource Center. Kretz and leaders of two other relief agencies appealed to the Erie Foundation in March for emergency funding. Since then, the foundation has set up a rapid response fund. But Erie's other agencies, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants' Erie field office and Catholic Charities, have already laid off employees, and the future is uncertain. While the U.S.—and thus Erie—has not accepted any new refugees since the start of the Trump administration, service providers are assisting recent arrivals on shoestring budgets. 'Hopefully [the anti-immigrant mood] is a short-term blip, and the longer-term trend is that we continue to realize the value of inviting new people into your community,' said Chris Groner, director of Erie's office of development services. Erie County is represented by Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who has made immigration one of his key issues. 'President Biden's open border policies have turned every state into a border state,' Kelly said on the House floor last year. He has specifically spoken out about crossings at the northern border, given that Lake Erie forms part of the U.S. border with Canada. 'If [immigrants] were wearing the uniform of a foreign country, we would think we were being invaded and we would say, 'My God, who is watching the border?'' Kelly said at a hearing on the northern border in 2023. Erie County, which is made up of a more progressive city surrounded by more rural, conservative areas, is known for being a swing county and a bellwether of national elections. Since 2008, a majority of voters in Erie County have chosen the winner of the presidential race. That includes choosing Trump in 2024. Immigration was one of the top issues for voters during the presidential election, with Trump promising to ramp up immigrant arrests and deportations while in office. A September 2024 Pew Research poll found that 56% of registered voters supported mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Trump has made good on his promises, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arresting more than 66,000 people in the first 100 days of the new administration. Yet people's views are nuanced, as 64% of Americans believed that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. 'if certain requirements are met,' according to a November 2024 Pew poll. To Jim Wertz, a Democrat who is currently running for Erie County Council, anti-immigrant sentiment hasn't been a noticeable problem in the city of Erie or even the county. 'Regardless of political [identity], folks recognize the value of these communities,' he said, suggesting it may be because of residents' real experiences with immigrants. 'Folks here go to the grocery store and meet people actually affected' by anti-immigrant policies, added Wertz, who is a professor of broadcast journalism and digital media at Pennsylvania Western University at Edinboro. That includes the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Though officials in the city of Erie have said they do not expect the police department to work with ICE, the Erie County Sheriff's Office has detained immigrants in Erie County Prison on behalf of the federal agency. At the end of February, nine immigrants were detained in the jail, according to Erie News Now, before some were transferred to a central Pennsylvania facility. Against this backdrop, Taraky said that the city is planning to help 'remove that gate' between immigrants and U.S.-born residents by inviting nonimmigrants 'to see the culture of immigrants [and] what they bring to the table,' which includes the 'food and fun' aspect of cultural integration: new cuisines, cultural performances, and gatherings. One of the new arrivals putting that approach into practice is Karim Hanif, a doctor in Afghanistan before he and his family fled the Taliban and moved to northwestern Pennsylvania. In February, he opened Ariana Halal Kitchen—the first Afghan restaurant in Erie. His son, Mohammad Abid, translated as Hanif explained that he wanted to work for himself and also give back to the Erie community. Erie's Afghans love the familiar food: 'The restaurant will be growing fast because a lot of Afghans keep coming to Erie,' Hanif said. But Hanif's customers are diverse: He serves other Muslims who are seeking halal food, like Somalis and Syrians, as well as U.S.-born Americans who are broadening their palates, eating cuisine they've possibly never tried before. There are at least 6,000 first-generation immigrants in the city of Erie, and more than half are refugees who were forced to flee dangerous conditions in their home countries. In addition to Afghanistan, Erie's refugees hail from countries including Bhutan, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Burundi, Ukraine, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Eritrea, Kosovo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Metropolitan areas in the Rust Belt were famously immigrant enclaves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But today, these cities' foreign-born residents tend to represent a relatively small percentage of the overall population compared to the U.S. average. Fewer than 7% of the city of Erie's residents are foreign born, compared to about 14% in the U.S. Even so, those immigrants bring jobs and businesses and inject money into the local economy, researchers across the country say. The city actively supports immigrant- and refugee-owned small businesses with microgrants, which have provided many of them with an initial infusion of capital. Immigrant entrepreneurs operate at least 100 ventures in the city, from day care centers and grocery stories to art galleries and auto repair shops. For his part, Taraky remains committed to highlighting the benefits of immigration—both through his words and his wardrobe—as he supports newcomers in integrating into the community. On a day in March, he wore a dark three-piece suit, complete with a patterned red pocket square. Dressing well allows people in the community to see an immigrant as a professional, he said. The hope, Taraky added, is that rather than clash, immigrants and nonimmigrants will 'come together [and] understand each other.' —By Kalena Thomhave This piece was originally published by Capital & Main, which reports from California on economic, political, and social issues. The final deadline for Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech Awards is Friday, June 20, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Forbes
5 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Immigration Restrictions Mount Against Americans And Legal Residents
People hold U.S. flags while attending their Naturalization Oath ceremony for US citizenship in Los ... More Angeles, California, on May 25, 2022. Americans and lawful permanent residents who want close family members and others to join them in the United States face mounting legal immigration restrictions. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) Americans and lawful permanent residents who want close family members and others to join them in the United States face mounting legal immigration restrictions. While the Trump administration characterizes the travel ban as against specific nations, the measure prohibits previously lawful actions by Americans and lawful permanent residents. Analysts say the travel ban uses data in less than legitimate ways, including citing overstay rates for temporary visas to justify barring people from obtaining a green card, also known as permanent residence, a status that people cannot overstay. On June 4, 2025, Donald Trump issued a proclamation banning the entry of persons issued immigrant visas at a consulate (but who are not yet lawful permanent residents) and the entry of persons with temporary visas from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The proclamation also bans the entry of persons issued immigrant visas and limits the entry ban on temporary (nonimmigrant) visas to tourists and business travelers and students and exchange visitors for an additional seven countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. On June 7, Secretary of State Marco Rubio further suspended the issuance of visas to people in the targeted countries and categories. The Trump administration crafted the new proclamation to overcome legal challenges and negative news stories. The travel ban issued in September 2017, which went into effect after Supreme Court approval, included blocking the Immediate Relatives of U.S. citizens from the affected countries and generated a slew of news stories about Americans separated from spouses. Immediate Relatives are the spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens. After the 2017 travel ban, admissions for the Immediate Relatives of U.S. citizens dropped significantly from the affected countries. A waiver in the proclamation helped little. A National Foundation for American Policy analysis shows between FY 2016 and FY 2019, the annual admission of the Immediate Relatives of U.S. citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen declined by 67%. The new proclamation includes an exception for the spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens. However, U.S. citizens must overcome a new standard: 'clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship (e.g., DNA),' according to the proclamation. 'This standard is higher than the preponderance of evidence standard that exists presently for U.S. citizens to claim their relationship to relatives they wish to sponsor for permanent residence,' said immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta. 'Normally, the standard only escalates to the clear and convincing standard in situations involving suspected fraud, such as when a respondent in removal proceedings marries a U.S. citizen or when there have been instances of prior fraud.' Under the proclamation, the federal government prohibits U.S. citizens from sponsoring an adult child (married or unmarried) or a sibling from the listed countries. That represents a significant immigration restriction against American citizens. The proclamation also bars lawful permanent residents from sponsoring a spouse, minor child or unmarried adult child from the 19 countries. 'There seems to be a strategy to prevent immigration and future citizenship from these mainly African countries,' said Mehta. He considers the ban on lawful permanent residents sponsoring their spouses or children 'draconian.' New developments may support Mehta's view that the Trump administration is motivated by a desire to ban many Africans from coming to the United States. The Washington Post reports the administration may add 36 more countries to the travel ban, including 25 African countries. That would mean, with limited exceptions, nationals from 35 of the 54 countries in Africa could be banned from immigrating, visiting or studying in the United States. 'While it may be difficult to challenge the entire proclamation on its face as unconstitutional under equal protection or First Amendment principles after Trump v. Hawaii, plaintiffs may try to take shots at challenging narrower provisions such as the provision rendering it harder for U.S. citizens to sponsor immediate relatives from the banned country,' said Mehta. Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Greenbrier Farms on June 28, 2024, in Chesapeake, Virginia. ... More (Photo by) During the 2024 presidential election campaign, Donald Trump vilified three nationalities: Haitians, Venezuelans and 'people from the Congo,' making statements journalists found untrue about each nationality. Trump accused Venezuelan gangs of 'attacking villages and cities all throughout the Midwest.' He claimed Haitians were eating their neighbor's pets in Springfield, Ohio. Trump also asserted that the government of 'the Congo' had opened its jails and sent prisoners to the United States to commit crimes. Under the travel ban proclamation, Venezuelans, Haitians and individuals from the Republic of the Congo are, with limited exceptions, banned from obtaining immigrant and temporary visas. The proclamation criticizes Haiti, Venezuela and Afghanistan for lacking a reliable or functioning government. However, the Trump administration terminated Temporary Protected Status for the three countries and claimed it was safe for Haitians, Venezuelans and Afghans to return, citing improved conditions in each nation. The inconsistencies in the proclamation indicate Trump officials worked backward by first identifying nationalities they wished to block from the United States and then seeking a rationale to list them in the travel ban. The travel ban will harm immigrant communities in Florida and elsewhere. 'The travel ban is catastrophic for many U.S. citizens from Haiti and Cuba, as well permanent residents from those countries,' said attorney Ira Kurzban, chair of the immigration department at KKWT in Miami. 'It doesn't allow people to reunify with family members, and it forces people to remain in or be deported to conditions that the United States and the rest of the world have recognized as absolutely horrific.' Kurzban points out that the Trump administration's policy permits the government to deport Cubans and Haitians to Rwanda, Libya, El Salvador or other places to which they have no connection and where they might be imprisoned if they can't be returned to Cuba or Haiti. 'Instead of being deported, many of these people could be doctors or nurses in the United States,' he said. The travel ban harms U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents sponsoring family members in several ways. First, the Trump administration bars U.S. citizens from the 19 countries from gaining approval for new applications to sponsor their siblings or adult children, even though immigration law permits it, and prohibits lawful permanent residents from sponsoring a spouse or child. That forces a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident to leave the United States if they wish to be with their family. Second, the ban stops people who may have waited 10 or 15 years to immigrate legally from arriving in the United States while the travel ban remains in place. Third, Kurzban notes that the State Department has barred issuing immigrant visas, meaning initial filings and paperwork will not take place to sponsor family members. The State Department could have allowed processing to continue while the ban on entering the United States remained in effect. 'The entry ban is supposed to be temporary, but that's just a mirage, because not issuing the visas and ending the visa process means starting that backup will take substantial time,' said Kurzban. 'The decision to not only ban entry, but to ban the whole process of getting the visa, having it put in your passport, or if you're an immigrant, going through the whole immigrant processing, is now, in effect, shut down.' Under the proclamation, the federal government also will prohibit family members from traveling to the United States for a visit, wedding or funeral. In the travel ban proclamation, the Trump administration cites overstay rates for temporary visas in countries to prohibit people from immigrating and staying permanently. It is impossible to overstay an immigrant visa since people are allowed to remain in the United States permanently on such visas. Analysts point out the U.S. government has banned one set of individuals for actions taken by a different group of people that bear no relationship to joining a spouse or other close family member to live in America. The travel ban also bars employers from sponsoring people outside the country for permanent residence from the 19 nations. The proclamation uses statements such as, 'According to the Overstay Report, Turkmenistan had a B-1/B-2 visa overstay rate of 15.35 percent and an F, M, and J visa overstay rate of 21.74 percent. (ii) The entry into the United States of nationals of Turkmenistan as immigrants . . . is hereby suspended.' (Emphasis added.) Similar statements are used for most of the countries listed in the proclamation. The overstay rates in the DHS reports are suspect since the documents include many unrecorded departures that may not be actual overstays. DHS has problems with its systems correctly identifying individuals who changed status inside the U.S. or left the country, which renders its reports inappropriate for policy purposes. That is particularly the case with students. The 'suspected in-country overstay' rate for student and exchange visitors in FY 2018 dropped by 60% over a year, from 2.11% to 0.84% 12 months later, according to DHS, as the agency's systems caught up. People from countries experiencing violence may not have overstayed their visas but applied for asylum, received Temporary Protected Status or remained in the country via other lawful means, such as marriage. DHS systems may record and treat them as overstays. Experts note the State Department can address overstays by denying visas to individuals they think will overstay a visa, a far less draconian approach than banning everyone in that country from entering the United States. The most recent DHS overstay report lists Iran and Venezuela as having low overstay rates for F-1 student and exchange visitor visas. Nonetheless, the proclamation bans nationals from the two countries from obtaining student visas. The travel bans and the refugee suspension prevent U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from sponsoring or reuniting with close family members. U.S. employers are also mainly prohibited from hiring individuals from the 19 countries. Immigration measures against those outside the United States often translate into restrictions on U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Ira Kurzban said, 'I think most Americans fail to realize that when you harm immigrants, you are hurting their American citizen or lawful permanent resident families.'
Fox News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Los Angeles rioters delay hundreds of legal migrants from receiving citizenship: DHS
FIRST ON FOX: Los Angeles rioters, who are ravaging the streets in protest of deporting illegal migrants, forced three Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) facilities in the LA area to shut down due to safety concerns, delaying nearly 300 legal migrants from receiving their hard-fought American citizenship. "Anti-ICE rioters are creating havoc and destroying the very communities they are purportedly advocating for," USCIS Spokesperson Matthew Tragesser told Fox News Digital. USCIS data obtained by Fox News Digital shows that 790 aliens had green card appointments canceled, 1,000 aliens had naturalization interviews canceled, and nearly 300 aliens who were scheduled were not able to attend their long-awaited naturalization ceremony. The naturalization ceremony is the final step in achieving what for many is a hard-fought journey to successfully immigrating legally into the U.S. For Green Card holders, there is typically a 5-year lawful permanent resident period required to achieve naturalization. Sources at USCIS tell Fox that legal migrants whose appointments and naturalization ceremonies will be delayed for roughly 30–45 days. Rioters, who set cars ablaze, looted retailers, and covered police stations and streets with explicit graffiti have been protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) removal of illegal immigrants since June 6. President Donald Trump authorized roughly 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 US Marines over the weekend in an effort to stifle the riots. The deployment of federal troops was rebuked by Gavin Newsom, who filed a federal court motion to grant the state a temporary restraining order to restrict the deployment of military personnel. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, rejected Newsom's request. President Trump told reporters at a bill signing ceremony Thursday that if he didn't "bring the military in, Los Angeles would be burning down right now." Secretary Noem will be hosting a press conference in Los Angeles at 140 PM eastern time to show her support for local and federal law enforcement. Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to and on X @MizellPreston
Bloomberg
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Germany Grants Record Citizenships With Big Increase in Russians
The number of people granted German citizenship jumped by almost 50% to another record last year, with Syrians again fueling the surge as well as a significant increase in the naturalization of Russians. More than 290,000 people gained citizenship, up from about 210,000 in 2023, according to official data published Tuesday. Some 83,000 were Syrians, while the number of Russians granted a German passport rose more than sixfold to nearly 13,000.
