All articlesThe U.S. citizenship test is currently undergoing revisions, raising concerns among immigrants and advocates regarding potential disadvantages for individuals with limited English skills. Those seeking citizenship go through a months-long process, involving years of legal permanent residency. The changes made to the test in 2020 by the previous administration, which increased its difficulty and length, have created apprehension among applicants. In response, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to eliminate barriers to citizenship and revert to the previous 2008 version of the test.
The updated test, set to be released next year, has been deemed necessary by U.S. authorities after a 15-year interval. One expected change is the addition of a speaking section, where applicants will be shown photos of everyday scenarios and asked to verbally describe them. Currently, the speaking ability is assessed through personal questions asked by the officer.
Heaven Mehreta, an Ethiopian immigrant who passed the naturalization test in May to become a U.S. citizen, expressed her opinion on the speaking section. She believes that it would be more challenging to look at pictures and explain them. Mehreta, 32, learned English as an adult after moving to the U.S. and found pronunciation to be very difficult.
Similarly, Shai Avny, an immigrant from Israel who became a U.S. citizen last year, stated that the new format is likely to increase the stress level for applicants. Avny mentioned that sitting next to a federal government representative can be intimidating, and this becomes even more challenging when English is not the applicant's first language. Nervousness and difficulty finding the right words to describe something important can add to the pressure, as the test ultimately determines their citizenship.
Another proposed change involves switching the current oral short-answer format of the U.S. history and government civics section to multiple-choice questions. This modification aims to increase the test's difficulty and require a broader knowledge base. For example, instead of simply asking applicants to name a war fought by the U.S. in the 1900s, they would need to select the correct answer from a list of options, such as World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, or Gulf War. Bill Bliss, a citizenship textbook author in Massachusetts, mentioned this change.
In the proposed multiple-choice format, applicants would read the question and select the correct answer from a set of choices provided. To choose the correct answer, they would need to know all five wars fought by the U.S. in the 1900s, requiring a significantly higher level of language proficiency and test-taking skill, as stated by Bliss.
Currently, applicants must answer six out of ten civics questions correctly to pass. These ten questions are selected from a bank of 100 civics questions. While applicants are not informed which questions will be asked, they can access and study the full set of 100 questions before taking the test.
According to a USCIS report released in December, over 1 million people became U.S. citizens in fiscal year 2022, marking one of the highest numbers on record since 1907. Furthermore, USCIS reduced the significant backlog of naturalization applications by over 60% compared to the previous year.
6 Jul 20233 min readsitemanager
US to revise citizenship test, format likely to become tougher.
The U.S. citizenship test is currently undergoing revisions, raising concerns among immigrants and advocates regarding potential disadvantages for individuals with limited English skills.