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Comment by packetlost | Hacker News Reader

Fully, fully disagree. The process should be better, but caps are not one of the problems that needs significant rework.

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I suspect that the amount of background legwork for each application is fairly limited. It should be possible to triage the vast majority of applications in a matter of days at most, at least the denials. It's wild that it takes years to do this.

I assume it's intentional. And/or profitable.

You've clearly never seen someone go for citizenship. It's a relatively involved process that involves multiple interviews, character reference letters, lots of paperwork, etc.

Getting a greencard (or equivalent) is an entirely different thing and is even _more_ broken.

I've known several people who've done it. I wasn't trying to argue that there isn't a lot of manual labor going on. But I'm doubting how much of that labor extends beyond interfacing with the applicant.

Are they interviewing references outside the country? Doing deep background checks that are not basically instant electronically? That's what I'm talking about. The denial process can probably be made extremely fast, and then the tedious interview part can be focused only on the ones we are planning to accept otherwise.

You're probably right that the background checks aren't that intensive, but every other part of that process is. If needing 2+ interviewers for 15-30 minutes per candidate isn't labor intensive, I don't know what your definition is.

Going for citizenship is pretty easy once you have a green-card, and you can do it without a lawyer. It's a bunch of easy paperwork and an interview.

Getting the green card though...

>It's a relatively involved process

No its not. It's a 3-step process with only one in person interview involved. I've helped 2 people go through that process in the last 2 years.

1) Submit an application and fee. Along with additional documentation (if any). Then wait for biometrics appointment notification.

2) Go to appointed date for biometrics. (Finger printing, photos). Takes about 30 minutes. No different than appointment for TSA Pre-check or Global entry.

3) Go for naturalization interview. If accepted, then usually interviewer will let the person know that they've been approved for naturalization. They'll receive an email/letter indicating date , time and location of the naturalization ceremony/oath.

Of course, depending on the area of the country you live in , the time between the above 3 steps varies. From 90 days to upwards of a year or more. Also, the above is for most people. But there could be some complicated cases where a person has to make multiple in-person visits. But regarding interview, there is only one.

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