Citizenship Test: Changes coming from USCIS for Naturalization Civics Test

The information in this article applies to the following:

·         Immigrants who are interested in becoming U.S. citizens. 

·         Educators who play a critical role in preparing learners. 

·         Organizations that are interested in supporting immigrants in becoming citizens and assisting them to assimilate into American civic society. 

What you need to know:

The civics test is an oral test performed by a USCIS Officer; an applicant must answer questions correctly to pass the civics portion of the naturalization test. It is one of the statutory requirements for naturalizing

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently announced plans to implement a revised version of the naturalization civics test. The updated version of the test will be applied to those whose Naturalization Application filing date is on or after December 1, 2020. Those who apply before Dec. 1, 2020, will take the current version of the test. Applicants for naturalization who are required to take the 2020 version of the civics test will need to study 128 questions about American government and history. USCIS will administer the 2020 version of the civics test and 2008 version of the civics test at the same time for a certain time period.

The revised test includes more questions that test the applicant’s understanding of U.S. history and civics, in line with the statutory requirements, and covers a variety of topics that provide the applicant with more opportunities to learn about the United States as part of the test preparation process. The revised test will not change the passing score, which will remain at 60%. Candidates must answer 12 questions correctly, out of 20 in order to pass.

USCIS will maintain the current guidelines for statutorily established special considerations for applicants who are 65 years old or older and have at least 20 years of lawful permanent resident status. These applicants will be asked 10 questions and must answer a minimum of six questions correctly in order to pass.

The test items and study guides can be found on the Citizenship Resource Center on the USCIS website. USCIS has also updated the USCIS Policy Manual (PDF, 323.82 KB) accordingly; see Volume 12, Part E, English and Civics Testing and Exceptions, Chapter 2, English and Civics Testing.