Trump Administration Unveils Tougher U.S. Citizenship Test In an Effort to Discourage Legal Immigration

The Trump administration announced Monday it will implement a longer, more challenging U.S. citizenship test as part of what officials call a comprehensive overhaul of naturalization standards.

The new test will expand from 100 to 128 potential questions and require applicants to answer 20 questions instead of 10, with at least 12 correct answers needed to pass, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“American citizenship is the most sacred citizenship in the world and should only be reserved for aliens who will fully embrace our values and principles as a nation,” said USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser.

The changes restore elements from a 2020 version implemented during Trump’s first presidency that was later reversed by the Biden administration in 2021, according to The Daily Signal.

Under the current system, applicants must answer six out of 10 questions correctly from a pool of 100 possible civics questions covering U.S. history and government.

The expanded test will continue to focus on the Constitution, American history, government structure and national symbols, but will assess knowledge in greater depth, sources told multiple news outlets.

USCIS posted a Federal Register notice Monday announcing implementation of the 2025 naturalization civics test, though the agency has not specified when the changes take effect.

The test revision is part of broader immigration policy changes that include stricter vetting procedures, enhanced reviews of disability exceptions and resumed neighborhood investigations of applicants, according to the USCIS announcement.

Officials said the agency is also providing updated guidance on assessing applicants’ “good moral character” and clarifying that unlawful voting or false citizenship claims disqualify candidates from naturalization.

Pro-immigrant advocates criticized the changes as deliberately obstructive. “All this does is make it harder for long-time residents who contribute to this country every day.

Immigration advocacy groups have not yet responded to the announced changes. The expanded format represents a more challenging pathway to citizenship for the approximately 878,500 people who became U.S. citizens in fiscal year 2023, according to USCIS data.

USCIS indicated additional changes to naturalization procedures will be announced in coming weeks and months.

The agency advised current applicants to check its Citizenship Resource Center for updated study materials and implementation details as the new requirements are rolled out.

Is the Test Designed to Discourage Immigration?

Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups say the expanded test is part of a broader Trump administration strategy to restrict legal immigration pathways.

“The changes to the citizenship process are part of a larger campaign by Trump administration officials to restrict access to legal U.S. immigration benefits,” CBS News reported, citing the test as one of multiple measures making citizenship more difficult to obtain.

The Biden administration had previously eliminated the 2020 version of the expanded test, arguing it created “unnecessary barriers for legal immigrants seeking to become citizens,” according to CBS News.

Pro-immigrant advocates criticized the changes as deliberately obstructive. “All this does is make it harder for long-time residents who contribute to this country every day to finally achieve the permanent protections that only U.S. citizenship can offer,” said Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy counsel at the National Immigration Law Center.

Axios reported that administration officials are “planning to make the test questions harder and potentially to add a subjective essay question that could facilitate U.S. officials denying citizenship to aspiring immigrants.”

The test changes accompany other restrictive measures, including expanded “good moral character” assessments that screen for “anti-American” views and resumed neighborhood investigations of applicants, according to multiple sources.

USCIS has also placed greater emphasis on social media vetting and expanded scrutiny of green card and work permit applications, suggesting a systematic approach to reducing legal immigration approvals.

This story was aggregated by AI from several news reports and edited by American Kahani’s News Desk.