Woodrow-Lafield, Karen A. 2006. “The Timing of Naturalization: Immigrants from Selected Major Countries of Birth,” Public Policy Institute of California, February 28. Abstract.


Becoming a U.S. citizen is an indicator of civic assimilation. This presentation reports on naturalization for Mexican, Dominican, and Chinese immigrants and the role of admission characteristics in the timing of naturalization based on hazards models. Immigrants with employment sponsorship were more likely to naturalize quickly. Second, immigrants likely to have fewer family members in the United States, possibly even the first to immigrate in their consanguineal family network, were more likely to naturalize. Third, propensity to naturalize differs by gender and across origin, pointing to cultural contexts, gender roles, demographic diversity, and social capital. Among Mexican and Dominican immigrants, women naturalized sooner than men, and this may denote women’s role in settlement and perpetuation of migration.