The Trump administration has announced the return of a tougher version of the U.S. citizenship civics test, restoring changes first introduced in late 2020 and later scrapped by President Joe Biden.
Under the revised format, applicants must answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly, compared to the current six out of 10. The pool of possible questions has also expanded from 100 to 128, with many requiring more detailed responses.
New topics include the 10th Amendment, the Federalist Papers, the national motto “E pluribus unum,” and milestones such as the light bulb and the moon landing. Some answers have also been restricted; for example, “Who does a U.S. Senator represent?” must now be answered as “citizens” of the state.
The test will apply to applications filed from October 20. USCIS officials say the revisions ensure new citizens fully embrace American values, while critics argue the move could make naturalization unnecessarily harder.
