California Immigration Attorney Blog

Portland, Oregon resident Marion Pringle finally became a U.S. citizen last week at the ripe old age of 104. Pringle was born in 1906 in Canada. She moved to the United States as a little girl but never procured the documents necessary to claim citizenship.

Her long undocumented status finally came to an end last Tuesday, when USCIS officials gave in and anointed her a U.S. citizen. Ms. Pringle needed paperwork to renew her driver's license (yes, she is still driving at the age of 104!), but because she lacked proof of citizenship, the State of Oregon initially balked at the renewal. Her quest took her to the Oregon Historical Society, where she managed to prove through Census records that she should qualify as a citizen.

USCIS has a reputation for being slow -- but usually they work faster than a 100+ year turnaround. Nevertheless, this heartwarming tale shows that status changes can and do happen, if you have the persistence and patience (and help) to reach your goal.

Ms. Pringle's case is extraordinary. It would have been a huge PR gaff on the part of USCIS to deny her citizenship and/or try to deport her back to Canada. But what about the thousands of other undocumented immigrants who've been forced to wait extraordinary long amounts of time for responses from USCIS? Will they, too, have to wait until their 104th birthday before getting responses? Or can applicants get faster answers using a more proactive approach?

Obviously, every case is different. Immigration courts are notoriously overcrowded. The queue is not getting any shorter. And trying to force a positive response from the system often feels as if they are trying to shove a square peg into a round hole the size of a toothpick.