USCIS Has 3 Year Backlog of Citizenship Petitions

From Migration Information Source

The USCIS estimates that it will take three years to clear out the current backlog in naturalization petitions. The backlog was created in part because of the surge of applications that were received this summer just before the USCIS filing fee changes went into effect. The fee increases double the fee in some cases and took effect on July 31, 2008.

Recent figures obtained from the USCIS show that during the 3 months of May, June and July 2008 over 700,000 petitions for naturalization were filed. This was more than 3 times the number received during the same period in the previous year. As of October 2007, the USCIS had more than 1 million citizenship applications pending approval.