The Government led by Democrat Joe Biden "plans to carry out an experimental test to update the naturalization test" to which immigrants with permanent residence who aspire to become citizens submit, as announced this Wednesday by the Citizenship and Immigration Service ( USCIS, in English), in order to "improve the standards of the test".
The naturalization test has four components: reading, writing, civics, and speaking English.
During this pilot test, changes will be included in the format and contents of the
civic education
module ;
and "a recently developed English expression component that could become standard," according to USCIS.
The other two parts will remain unchanged.
USCIS cited a Biden executive order issued in February 2021 "to review the naturalization process", as a result of which its experts "recommended redesigning the oral expression and civics test to improve standards", in line "with feedback from multiple external stakeholders.
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A USCIS source told the CNN news network that they are seeking to standardize the English expression test to prevent it from being subjective and depending on the examiner who takes the test.
As for the civics test, this source added that it will be changed from a fill-in-the-blank format to a multiple-choice one.
The questionnaire now requires at least six correct answers to 10 questions from a list of 100 possible (on history, political structure and Government, among other topics).
USCIS said it will seek about 1,500 volunteers registered in adult education classes to carry out the pilot test over a period of five months in 2023. The results obtained in this test will not affect naturalization.
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Last year, the Biden administration revoked the controversial naturalization test from the former President Donald Trump's era (which was more complicated and convoluted) and returned to the 2008 version.
USCIS naturalized more than a million people in fiscal year 2022, according to the federal agency, marking the highest number of naturalizations in nearly 15 years.
To acquire US citizenship, a foreigner must complete five years as an immigrant with lawful permanent residence, in addition to other requirements such as tax contributions and conduct without violation of the laws.
In addition, USCIS announced changes to the citizenship process in October that ease the requirements for applicants who have a physical or mental disability.
Now they can ask to be exempted from the English, history and civics part.