The administration under President Joe Biden is scrapping a new version of the citizenship test proposed by former President Trump.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that they are abandoning the 2020 version of the citizenship test, which critics have accused of being too difficult, and reverting to the version developed in 2008.
In a statement, USCIS said, “We believe that the development process, content, testing procedures, and implementation schedule for the 2020 citizenship naturalization test could inadvertently create potential barriers to the naturalization process.”
Officials said the action is consistent with a presidential order signed by Biden on Feb. 2. The order requires officials to review relevant regulations and policies for inconsistencies with the purpose of welcoming and admitting immigrants.
The presidential order “directs a comprehensive review of the naturalization process to remove barriers and make the naturalization process easier for all eligible individuals,” the INS noted.
According to the agency, the 2008 naturalization test was developed over many years with the participation of more than 150 organizations. Those who helped develop the test include experts in English as a second language, educators and historians.
Later in 2020, a new version of the naturalization test was announced by the immigration agency under President Donald Trump.
At the Time, the immigration agency said, “As part of its decennial updates to the version of the citizenship test, USCIS also revised the citizenship test this time to ensure that it remains a tool that fully assesses an applicant’s knowledge of American history, government and civic values, among other things.”
The updated version includes more questions on U.S. history and civics and was developed by experts in the field of adult Education, officials said.
The percentage needed to pass the naturalization test – 60 percent – has not changed. But the number of questions that need to be answered has changed: the old test required applicants to answer 10 questions, while the new test requires them to answer 20. Naturalization applicants using the 2020 version of the test were also told to study 128 questions, compared to 100 questions on the previous version.
Prospective citizens applying for naturalization on or after Dec. 1, 2020, and before March 1, 2021, can choose for themselves whether to use the 2008 version of the test or the 2020 version.
After March 1, all applicants will use the older version.
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