Trump Administration Tightens U.S. Citizenship Requirements
- The Trump administration moved again Wednesday to make it harder to gain U.S.citizenship, announcing a slate of changes to the core civics test that immigrants must pass to...
- The changes, announced as pending in the Federal Register, would largely revert the test to a similarly longer and harder version that was introduced in 2020 during President...
- The new naturalization test, like the short-lived 2020 version, would draw from 128 possible questions and require prospective citizens to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly in...
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Trump administration Reinstates Harder Citizenship Test
Table of Contents
Published: June 16, 2024
Introduction
The Trump administration moved again Wednesday to make it harder to gain U.S.citizenship, announcing a slate of changes to the core civics test that immigrants must pass to be naturalized. The changes would expand the number of questions immigrants need to be prepared to answer, and increase the number of questions they must answer correctly in order to pass.
Details of the New Test
The changes, announced as pending in the Federal Register, would largely revert the test to a similarly longer and harder version that was introduced in 2020 during President Trump’s first term, but was swiftly rolled back under President Biden in 2021.
The new naturalization test, like the short-lived 2020 version, would draw from 128 possible questions and require prospective citizens to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly in order to pass. Under the current test, which dates to 2008, ther are 100 possible questions, and prospective citizens must answer six out of 10 correctly.
| Test Version | Number of Possible Questions | Passing Score |
|---|---|---|
| Current (2008) | 100 | 6/10 |
| new/2020 | 128 | 12/20 |
Broader Context: Immigration Crackdown
The shift