US passport isn't the draw it once was

Jonathan Wajskol, an Italian graphic designer who moved to the US about three decades ago, has a life with all the hallmarks of an immigrant success story: graduate studies at an American university; a successful international firm with partners in Milan and Beijing; and a residence in Greenwich Village where he lives with his wife and two children.

One thing he does not have, however, is American citizenship - and that is a deliberate choice. He has a green card, but he has never applied for citizenship and is not interested. His reasons, he said, go to the heart of his identity. "I would feel that if I get the American citizenship, I would feel a little less Italian," he explained. "I really don't feel American."

For many people around the world, a US passport is a near-sacred goal, and given half a chance to get one, they would eagerly seize it.

But even as legions in the US and abroad pin their hopes on becoming American, there is a seemingly contradictory truth: that millions of people who are in the country legally, and stand on the threshold of citizenship, never take that next step.

According to some estimates, about 40 per cent of all people who hold green cards, the gateway to citizenship, do not naturalise.

Of those, many may want to apply but are deterred by a variety of reasons, including the US$680 application fee or the requirement that most applicants must prove they can read, write and speak basic English, immigrants' advocates said. Some countries - including China, Japan and Iran - generally do not permit their citizens to acquire a second nationality, forcing a difficult choice.