Biden reportedly aiming to address citizenship application backlog by cutting back on paperwork

Oath of allegiance during citizenship ceremony. — (Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

President Biden appears to be planning a significant expansion of the legal immigration system, a 46-page internal draft blueprint from the Department of Homeland Security obtained by The New York Times reveals, and addressing backlogs for citizenship applications is a "central element" of the reported strategy.

The Biden administration is reportedly aiming to implement a series of tactics to "fast-track" the applications and make the citizenship process easier, including allowing for more virtual interviews and electronic filings, as well as limiting the requests for evidence from applicants. Essentially, the goal is for there to be a lot less paper work.

White House officials declined to comment directly on the DHS blueprint, the Times reports, since such documents go through quite a bit of revision before they're finalized, but it seems likely that addressing the backlog will remain a primary focus for the Biden administration. After all, more than 900,000 cases are currently in the backlog, a figure that's 80 percent higher than it was in 2014. Read more at The New York Times.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.