USCIS Introduces New Citizenship Test
President Donald Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14161, “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” directed the Department of Homeland Security to promote lawful immigrants’ proper assimilation and to foster “a unified American identity and attachment to the Constitution, laws, and founding principles of the United States.”
In accordance with Trump’s EO, effective mid-October 2025, citizenship candidates began taking a slightly revised version of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) test. USCIS administers the Naturalization Civics test pursuant to the statutory requirements found in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), section 312, which requires aliens to demonstrate knowledge of American history and civics as a basic citizenship requirement for naturalization. The law states that a naturalization applicant must have “an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write, and speak words in ordinary usage in the English language” and have a “knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history, and of the principles and form of government, of the United States.”
EO and the INA have set reasonable, noble goals for lawful permanent residents who must have lived in the U.S. for five years or more; LPRs who gained their immigration status through marriage to a U.S. citizen have a three-year wait period. Most test-takers will pass and become American citizens. However, based on my personal 20-year experience in the California public school system preparing refugees and amnesty recipients for the citizenship test, most will not truly be competent in the required skills.
The Oral Civics Test is the main way the government checks U.S. history and government knowledge. Here’s how it works: Beginning in the middle of October 2025, those applying for citizenship will be expected to correctly answer 12 out of 20 questions that are randomly selected from an updated bank of 128 questions. Questions cover topics like the Constitution, government branches, American history, and citizens’ rights and responsibilities. The administrator asks the questions out loud, and the reply must be made out loud. Previously, applicants only had to answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly from a pool of 100 questions. With the change, the number of possible questions increases to 128, and applicants must answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly — twice as many as before. To ensure accuracy, the U.S. Library of Congress vets all questions and answers and again USCIS made all answers available so applicants could prepare.
The English test checks three skills: speaking, reading, and writing. The officer asks a simple question to evaluate verbal and comprehension skills. Then, the applicant must read one of three simple sentences. Finally, they must write one of those sentences. Two chances are offered to pass each section.
Note that USCIS offers generous exceptions.
The 50/20 Rule
If you’re at least 50 years old and have been a lawful permanent resident, a green card holder, for at least 20 years, you may be exempt from taking the English language portion of the test. You’ll still need to take the civics test, but you can take it in your native language, making it more accessible for non-English speakers.
55/15 Rule
Similarly, if you’re 55 or older and have been a permanent resident for at least 15 years, you’re also exempt from the English language test. Like the 50/20 exemption, you’ll still have to complete the civics test, but again, you can do so in your native language.
65/20 Special Consideration
If you’re 65 or older and have been a permanent resident for at least 20 years, you’re eligible for special consideration. Not only are you exempt from the English language test, but you also qualify to take a simplified version of the civics test, which contains fewer questions, making the process less stressful.
Since USCIS oversees the process standards, it also has discretion over determining whether naturalization applicants meet the necessary requirements. Therein lies the rub. Like USCIS, which makes available the Naturalization Test and Study Materials and Resources for Educational Programs, I gave students applying under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 the probable questions and answers. The amnesty program required 40 hours of classroom English instruction and a passing grade on the INA oral exam. When the students completed their 40-hour minimum, I quizzed them to evaluate their test-readiness. The majority failed. Accordingly, I didn’t sign the INA form which confirmed that the students had completed both the hours requirement and the English exam. Not long thereafter, I received a call from the local INA office ordering me to sign regardless of the students’ failings. The INA had heard, no doubt through activist groups like MALDEF, that I wasn’t signing off. When I explained that the students were unprepared, I was ordered nevertheless to approve all applicants.
The USCIS administrators pass nearly all citizenship candidates. The 2022 initial plus re-test pass rate was 95.7%, inconsistent not only with my experience but also Census Bureau findings. About half, 47%, of immigrant adults in the U.S. have limited English proficiency, meaning that they speak English less than very well. Reasons for examiners’ leniency could include compassion for candidates who have little if any test-taking experience, and none in a second language. Extreme nervousness could encourage sympathy. But most of all, failing citizenship-seekers in significant percentages would stir up a hornet’s nest among the immigration lobby and lead to vocal charges that the test is purposely too difficult because the administration is anti-immigration — a distraction that Trump doesn’t need.
Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org
