Settlement opens door for hundreds of legal immigrants to become U.S. citizens [Updated]

November 9, 2009 | 12:00 pm

Hundreds of legal immigrants in Southern California who have been waiting years for citizenship will have their cases resolved as a result of a settlement with the federal government, attorneys announced today.

The immigrants were stuck in lengthy delays as they waited for the FBI to complete their security name checks and for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve their citizenship applications.

The settlement, approved Friday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, sets a six-month deadline for the government to decide on hundreds of citizenship applications from Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Bernardino.

The settlement also ends indefinite delays in processing naturalization applications, according to the plaintiffs.


“The naturalization process has been a bureaucratic nightmare for so many permanent residents who did everything right to become citizens of this country,â€