The Process of Naturalizing: Contrasts for Asian and Latin American Immigrants

Karen A. Woodrow-Lafield, University of Notre Dame
Xiaohe Xu, Mississippi State University
Bunnak Poch, University of Chicago
Thomas M. Kersen, Mississippi State University

This study investigates gender and admission criteria in naturalizing for U.S. immigrants of 1978, 1985, and 1990 from six countries. From alternative continuous-time hazard models over duration, the underlying hazard functions are the Gompertz for Cubans, Mexicans, and recent El Salvadorans and the log-logistic for Chinese, Indians, and Filipinos. Latin Americans began more slowly than Asians but they continued to naturalize in the second decade. Models controlling for unobserved heterogeneity were preferable for Asians and Cubans. Employment-sponsored immigrants were most likely to naturalize, and immediate relative spouses also showed high propensities to naturalize. For Mexicans, early Cubans, and recent Salvadorans, women naturalized sooner than men, but, in contrast, Indian men, Filipino men, and early arriving Chinese men naturalized sooner than women. These models according to the underlying hazard function are more definitive for explaining naturalization with changing gender roles and origin contexts over time.