The Trump administration is making the naturalization process robust again. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Wednesday, September 17, a new, expanded civics test to measure how well applicants for citizenship understand American history and the foundation of the US Government.
The old test, implemented in 2021, asked just ten questions and required applicants to answer six correctly. For anyone applying for naturalization on or after October 20, 2025, however, the civics test will consist of 20 questions randomly chosen from a pool of 128, and passing it will require 12 correct answers.
Restoring Integrity to the Process
According to CBS, the new questions concern the Tenth Amendment, the Federalist Papers, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, among others. The immigration agency also announced several other changes, including assessing immigrant applicants’ “good moral character, looking for positive contributions to American society,” rather than just an “absence of bad behavior,” and bringing back neighborhood investigations.











