Biden Scraps Trump-Era Changes to Citizen Test

 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed their plan to scrap Trump’s citizenship test this past Monday. In early December 2020, Donald Trump made several changes to the U.S. Citizenship Test that complicated the exam. Its length was doubled, the number of possible questions increased, and some answers were altered with a conservative bias. Furthermore, very little notice was given in advance of these changes, limiting the time available for participants to properly prepare. Many critics believe these changes slowed down the process and discouraged many applicants. 

The Biden administration will now be reverting back to the 2008 version of the exam. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will allow some immigrants who filed their naturalization applications between December 1st and March 1st to take either test, since many have already begun preparing for the 2020 version. However, all applicants whose first naturalization interviews take place after April 19th will have to take the 2008 version of the exam, regardless of when they filed their naturalization applications. Hopefully, the change will make the process easier and more efficient for applicants, and remove yet another barrier on their pathway to citizenship.