U.S. OFFICIALS UNVEIL NEW CITIZENSHIP TEST

Longer, more nuanced exam goes into effect Dec. 1

The Trump administration unveiled a new U.S. citizenship test on Friday, adding a broader array of history and civics themes while requiring that legal residents answer twice as many questions correctly to pass.

The new exam — which has been in development for years as part of a once-a-decade review —requires applicants to answer at least 12 oral questions correctly, up from six under the most recent exam, which has been in use since Oct. 1, 2008, late in George W. Bush’s presidency. Those taking the test must still get at least 60 percent of the questions correct.

Advocates for immigrants said Friday that the exam appears to them to be more difficult than previous versions, in that it is longer, more nuanced and in some questions there is a tinge of politics.

One new question asks, “Who does a U.S. senator represent?” The correct answer under the old test was: “All people of the state.”

The new version lists the correct answer as “Citizens of their state.” President Donald Trump has tried to exclude undocumented immigrants from the decennial census for the purposes of assigning congressional seats.

The new study guide contains 128 questions in three categories — American Government, American History and Symbols and Holidays — up from 100 in the older version. The new test also might take longer to administer: Officers must ask all 20 questions, while lawyers said they usually used to stop when an immigrant answered the required minimum of six correctly.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials said the updated exam will take effect on Dec. 1, though elderly applicants who have been green card holders for at least 20 years will be allowed to take the shorter version instead.

Joseph Edlow, the agency’s deputy director for policy, said the new test prepares immigrants “to become fully vested members of American society.”

“USCIS has diligently worked on revising the naturalization test since 2018, relying on input from experts in the field of adult education to ensure that this process is fair and transparent,” he said in a statement. The new exam was presented to community organizations and volunteers during the summer as part of a pilot program.

USCIS has been working on the new test since 2018, and it announced last year that it was updating it just as the agency was seeing a crush of new applicants. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants have naturalized during Trump’s term, leading to a backlog.

Officials eradicated the old test’s geography section — which included questions such as “What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States? (Answer: Pacific) and added newer, more technical questions about government.

One new question asks: “What is the form of government of the United States?” (Possible answers: Republic, Constitution-based federal republic and Representative democracy).

Analysts worry that administering the test will take longer, potentially limiting the number of exams officers can handle.

“It’s basic math,” said Krish O’mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. “If you make the test twice as long, it takes twice as much time and USCIS officers will process half the applicants.”

USCIS spokesman Dan Hetlage said the increased number of questions “provides a more accurate measurement” of applicants’ understanding of civics and “ensures the reliability and validity of scores.”