U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Monday it will scrap former President Trump’s revised naturalization civics test that critics called overly complex and unnecessary. The Trump administration revised the test late last year to include additional questions and topics.
Starting on March 1, 2021, USCIS plans to restore the previous 2008 version of the civics test, which assesses a citizenship applicant’s knowledge of U.S. history and government, and is administered during the naturalization interview.
The Trump version of the civics test included 128 questions, compared to 100 in the previous test. Applicants are required to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly; before, they had to get 6 out of 10 questions right.
“We determined the 2020 civics test development process, content, testing procedures, and implementation schedule may inadvertently create potential barriers to the naturalization process,” USCIS said in a statement.
What does this mean for me?
Applicants who filed their naturalization applications on or after Dec. 1, 2020, but before March 1, 2021, with a citizenship interview scheduled before April 19, 2021, can choose to either take the 2008 test or the 2020 test. USCIS said it will notify affected applicants.
To learn more about the Trump-era version of the test, head over here, and see this Boundless guide on preparing for the citizenship test.