CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland is the No. 1 city in America in which to become a U.S. citizen, with the nation’s shortest average processing time, among the highest rates of clearing its backlog, and the most efficient U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office, according to a just-released study by Boundless Immigration.

“Relative to other metro areas, Cleveland — at 95 points — is as good as it gets across all of these weighted factors, and it earns the No. 1 spot on the index,” said Boundless Immigration, a Seattle technology company that helps families navigate the immigration process and apply for green cards and citizenship.

In comparing how eligible immigrants across the U.S. become naturalized, Boundless Immigration ranked 103 major metropolitan areas and 86 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices according to three major barriers to citizenship, using Department of Homeland Security and other federal data.

Cleveland came out on top of both its lists: the “Best (and Worst) Cities to Become a U.S. Citizen,” and the “Best (and Worst) Field Offices to Become a U.S. Citizen.” While it takes an average of only four months to process an application for citizenship in Cleveland — the shortest wait time in the country – the average waiting period nationally is more than twice that at 10 months.

At the other end of its ranking, in comparison, immigrants applying for citizenship in Houston have to wait an average of 17.3 months, in a USCIS field office with a backlog completion rate of only 35 percent, among the nation’s worst. “The only city where immigrants would fare worse is Austin — because they’ll have to go through the same struggling field office in Houston, but travel 80 miles to get there as there is no office in Austin,” the study said.

Xiao Wang, co-founder and CEO of Boundless Immigration, said the intent of the study was to demystify a process that to applicants “is often a very frightening and terrifying experience, a fear of not knowing if you’re doing it right.”

By gathering data across government agencies and putting it into terms applicants can understand, “we wanted to shine more light on this process,” he said. “There is a significant difference across geography, across cities and across field offices.”

Immigration attorney Margaret Wong, president and managing partner of Margaret W. Wong & Associates LLC, said the idea that Cleveland has the nation’s shortest average processing time is “absolutely true.” Cleveland, which used to have one of the lower rankings in terms of USCIS efficiency, has improved under new leadership, she said.

“Our clients and us lawyers don’t have to wait for hours in the waiting room for our turn to be called and then see the officers taking their breaks and-or [at] lunch,” she said. “U.S. citizenship applications are taking only weeks to be fingerprinted and called in for interviews with decisions issued faster. Their approval rates are not high but at least their reasoning is reasonable. Our applications for green cards are also being called for interviews at record time, which is good,” because it means foreign-born immigrants can get faster approvals for jobs or to visit their families, she said.

Boundless Immigration points out that if the 9 million lawful permanent residents (also called green card holders) eligible to become citizens actually did so, they could get hired for better-paying jobs and increase their annual incomes by 8 percent to 11 percent by demonstrating to employers “a long-term commitment to live and work in the United States.”

The path to citizenship, however, is longer and more complicated than it has ever been. On top of the costly application fees and required tests in English and civics, processing times have doubled since 2016 and are expected to increase, because the government’s ability to clear its backlog of applications is at its lowest point in years. On top of that, the likelihood of people being approved for citizenship varies according to where they live, and more applicants than ever are being denied.

“There is immense variation by location,” the study says. “Immigrants in some cities are encountering minimal backlogs, short wait times, and convenient locations for the citizenship interview, while immigrants in other cities face large backlogs, long (even outrageous) wait times, and an interview location over 100 miles away.”

On a third list, “Which Cities Are Producing the Most New American Citizens,” the Greater Cleveland area ranks No. 10, with 13.3 percent of its immigrants eligible for citizenship approved in 2017.

On that chart, Columbus ranks No. 1, having approved 20.6 percent of its eligible immigrants, and Greater Cincinnati is No. 2, with a 16.8 percent citizenship approval rate.

Joe Cimperman, president of Global Cleveland, said: “This ranking is a big deal, as it speaks to the great work of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office and its awesome staff in Cleveland. As anyone who has naturalized in Cleveland knows, Global Cleveland has been at every single ceremony since May 2016, four naturalizations a month every month.”

“Naturalization is so important. People’s rates of job promotion increase, there is more access to financing for entrepreneurs and new business start-ups for those who naturalize, and the chances of someone staying in the community in which they naturalize rise exponentially,” he added.

“Cleveland is ranked this way because we do welcome well, people’s applications are processed quickly, and each year we welcome close to 3,000 people who made the choice to become new citizens. I think they choose to naturalize because Cleveland is the best American warm welcome there is,” he said.