Nigeria has emerged as the fourth-highest-ranking country for U.S. green cards granted through military naturalization between 2020 and 2024.
Data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reveals that 3,270 Nigerian-born military service members received U.S. citizenship during this period.
Nigeria trails the Philippines (5,630), Jamaica (5,420), and Mexico (3,670) among the top contributors to the 52,000 naturalized service members globally. This milestone underscores Nigeria's growing contributions to U.S. military ranks.
It noted that service members born in the Philippines, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, and Ghana are the top five countries of birth among those naturalized and comprised over 38% of the naturalizations since 2020.
The analysis of the data said, “The next five countries of birth — Haiti, China, Cameroon, Vietnam, and South Korea — comprised an additional 16% of military naturalisations from FY 2020 to FY 2024.”
The data revealed that the number of Nigerian service members gaining U.S. citizenship has steadily increased over the past five years, saying that from 340 in 2020, the figure rose to 630 the following year, 680 in 2022, 690 in 2023, and 930 in 2024.
It said that the Army accounted for 60% of all military naturalizations during the period, followed by the Navy (20.4%), Air Force (10.6%), and Marine Corps (6.6%), stressing that less than 1% of naturalized service members served in the Coast Guard.