USCIS Denies Citizenship for Applicant's LinkedIn Request to Staff

An attorney cited a case where a person who applied for US citizenship was denied on the grounds of bad moral character. The USCIS said the applicant sent a LinkedIn request to USCIS staff so that they could "have access to who you are as a person". The USCIS said this conduct is inconsistent with appropriate professional boundaries between applicants and USCIS personnel and reflects a disregard for official channels of communication with the agency. The USCIS said such conduct also raises concerns about potentially threatening, coercive or improperly influential behavior towards USCIS staff. "DHS personnel do face threats and intimidation, and your lack of judgment in this regard reflects adversely on your good moral character," the USCIS notice said. The attorney did not share any details of the case, not the name of the person or the nationality but expressed his surprise that USCIS has made this the reason to deny naturalization. The attorney observed that there was no accusation of actual contact and the case is based on a request to follow on LinkedIn. The USCIS officials who received the LinkedIn request were the USCIS San Jose Field Office Director and the USCIS San Francisco District Director.

Naturalization is the legal process through which a non-US citizen voluntarily becomes a US citizen after meeting the requirements established by Congress. Green Card holders residing in the US for five years, 3 years for marriage-based Green Card holders, can apply for naturalization. The process starts with submitting Form N-400, which is the application for naturalization. The next phase in the biometrics appointment where the applicants give their fingerprints, photographs and a signature. The fingerprints go to the FBI for a crime record check while USCIS checks other factors like the moral character of the applicant, involvement in the community, travel history etc. Then an in-person interview is held. In this particular case, the applicant disclosed to the interviewer that they sent a LinkedIn request to two officers of the USCIS so that they could get a full view of the LinkedIn profile. The USCIS said that their officers receive threats from applicants and put the LinkedIn request in the same category. It is not known whether there were other grounds of denial or whether this was the only ground.