Johanne, a Haitian social worker, has lived in the United States for nearly 30 years, but as she prepares for her upcoming citizenship test, she says the process feels more daunting than ever.
“I just pray that everything will be okay,” she said. “I’m not a good test taker, and especially with everything that’s happening right now in immigration, it’s very stressful.”
The U.S. government’s updated citizenship test is sparking anxiety among immigrants and advocates who say the changes could make naturalization harder for working-class immigrants and limited-English speakers.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says the revised test aims to ensure that all naturalizing citizens meet the statutory requirement of understanding the fundamentals of American history and of the principles and forms of government of the United States.
Practically speaking, the new changes apply only to the civics portion of the naturalization exam. The English reading, writing and speaking requirements remain the same. Under the 2008 version, applicants were asked 10 oral civics questions from a bank of 100 questions during their interview and needed to answer six correctly to pass. The 2020 version introduced a larger bank of 128 questions. Officers would select up to 20 questions from that bank, requiring applicants to answer 12 correctly to pass.
The 2025 version keeps the same 128-question bank from 2020 but changes how the interview is administered. Officers will stop asking questions once an applicant either reaches 12 correct answers, resulting in an immediate pass, or accumulates nine incorrect answers, resulting in a fail.
For Johanne, the changes add another layer of uncertainty. “When I finally took a look at it, it was extremely challenging,” she said. “There were more questions, and it was very different from the previous one.”
For many advocates, that the changes are more than mere technical adjustments, they see that as a shift that may discourage people from applying for citizenship altogether.
A Growing Barrier
“The drive, I suspect, is to make it more difficult for people to pass,” said Andres Santamaria, lead immigration attorney at Make the Road New York, a nonprofit that serves immigrant communities across New York. “Anytime you add questions and make it so people have to get more questions correct, it’s going to cause more people to fail the exam. In my view, it’s a method for USCIS to have fewer people pass.”
According to USCIS, over 800,000 people became naturalized U.S. citizens last year. USCIS has not said how many people it expects to be affected by the new format. For many, the civics test is the final and most emotional hurdle of a years-long process.
“It’s just a matter of understanding,” said Johanne. “But what can throw you off is that the format is different, it’s upside down, like the response is now the question. If you study the first one, it can be confusing.”
At Make the Road New York, legal teams are already adjusting their materials. “We usually give clients the list of questions USCIS provides,” Santamaria said. “Now we’re telling them, apart from the 100 questions, they have to study these extra 28 questions.”
Immigration lawyers and educators say that while the changes reflected in the new version of the test may seem modest, they can be a significant barrier that can result in real consequences, which could deepen inequities between who can and who cannot become an American citizen.
“It’s going to make it harder for everyone, but it’s going to affect those people more who have to work and don’t have as much time to prepare,” Santamaria said. “Those who are still learning English, obviously, having to answer more questions is going to be more difficult.”
A Compressed Timeline
The new test applies to anyone filing a naturalization application on or after Oct. 20 — anyone who submitted their paperwork before that date would take the 2008 version. The short rollout period, about 60 days from the September 18 announcement to implementation, has left legal aid groups scrambling.
“This policy was announced with a very short implementation period,” said Tamara Bloom, managing attorney for community events at CUNY Citizenship Now!, which provides free legal assistance to immigrants. “People who file after the date when the new test is being implemented have a shorter period of time to study this new material.”
That compressed timeline is particularly challenging in places like New York, where the wait between filing an application and being scheduled for an interview are not affected by major backlogs.
“You have to be at a certain level of proficiency to take a test and demonstrate your knowledge in a smaller window,” Bloom said. “People are busy. It’s not like before, when you had years and years to prepare.”
Bloom noted that the USCIS decision may have unintended consequences. “Every headline correctly says ‘longer, more complicated test’,” she said. “That shouldn’t dissuade people from applying, but it has that effect. It makes people who are very much eligible afraid of applying.”
The change also comes amid concerns about access to preparation materials. In past years, USCIS funded English and civics classes through community organizations and public colleges. Those funds have since been cut.
“USCIS used to be a funder of programs that provided English and civics classes,” Bloom said. “They got rid of all the federal funding for those kinds of classes. There are still classes available, but it’s not as accessible as it was.”
In January, the Trump administration ended funding for the USCIS Citizenship and Integration Grant Program. This program supports community organizations that offer citizenship classes, naturalization application assistance and other integration services
That lack of resources hits hardest in communities with lower literacy levels. “Right now there’s a very small amount of preparatory information available,” Bloom said. “You can’t just Google it. The USCIS website made it more difficult to navigate. They used to have a link for how to find prep classes, which isn’t there anymore.”
Some nonprofits and individuals are trying to fill the gap. Bloom pointed to USAHello.org, which has translated civics test questions into multiple languages. But, she said, “as of now, USCIS doesn’t have any of the civics test questions in any other language besides English.”
Unequal Impact
According to the National Immigration Forum, immigrants with higher English skills are more likely to apply for citizenship and succeed. In New York, demand for adult English classes far exceeds available programs, and funding for these programs has declined even as more immigrants need them.
CUNY Citizenship Now! partners with libraries and community organizations like the New-York Historical Society and Dominicanos USA to help applicants find classes. But Bloom said demand far outpaces supply. “There’s definitely way more interest in taking these classes than there are spots available,” she said.
“It’s mainly been anxiety,” Santamaria said of his clients. “People feel they have to prepare more. Anytime you add new requirements, it causes fear.”
That anxiety is particularly high among immigrants with limited literacy. “This method of testing civics knowledge is always going to disadvantage people who already have to have a basic level of education,” Bloom said. “Even if you’re taking the test in your language, you have to retain all the information you’re memorizing and be able to regurgitate it at the interview. People are like, this is just a memorization test. It has nothing to do with civic engagement.”
She said the new administration “is going to exploit those inequities rather than mitigate them.”
Advocates Push Back
Despite the changes, CUNY Citizenship Now!, which has been providing naturalization assistance since 1997, is urging applicants to stay calm and informed.
“We prepare kind of like a warning sheet,” Bloom said. “We post it places and remind people that the English language requirement and exemptions are still there. If you meet those exemptions based on the length of time you’ve had your green card and your age, you can still take the civics test in your language.”
That message is vital for older immigrants who qualify for accommodations. “If you’re over 65 and have had your green card for at least 20 years, you study a shorter set of questions,” Bloom said. “We remind people that it hasn’t gone away.
Johanne said that being able to retake the test helps her manage her nerves.
“I know I have two chances,” she said. “If at first I don’t succeed, I’m going to wait for the next one. It is what it is. I just keep studying and praying it will be okay.”
An Uncertain Future
Advocates are urging USCIS to be transparent about how it measures and evaluates the outcome of the citizenship test. Bloom said the agency once released detailed data on naturalization passage rates by region and demographics but has grown less forthcoming.
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
“We can’t really rely on USCIS, especially now, to be a leader in fairness or equity,” she said. “They’re using language that’s deliberately aggressive and discouraging people who are actually eligible from applying.”
Santamaria agrees. “We won’t see the actual effects until we start seeing clients who are applying after October 20,” he said. “But I suspect it’s going to make people afraid. Anytime the process gets harder, fewer people try.”
For these advocates, that’s the real cost of the change. Not just the added questions, but the added fear.
