President Donald Trump’s administration has announced that it is restoring stricter requirements for the U.S. naturalization test.
The Trump admin is reimplementing changes first made during the president’s first term but later scrapped by the Biden administration.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed Wednesday that the 2025 version of the civics exam will return to the 2020 Trump-era standard.
The change replaces the softer 2008 version brought back under Biden.
“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,” USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in a statement.
What’s Changing
The revised test includes 128 possible civics questions, compared to just 100 under the 2008 format.
Applicants will be required to answer 12 out of 20 correctly to pass.
While the passing threshold remains unchanged, test administrators may now conclude the exam once an applicant answers 12 correctly or nine incorrectly, tightening the process and preventing drawn-out questioning.
Sample questions include:
• “Name one thing the U.S. Constitution does.”
• “Why did the United States enter World War I?”
• “Thomas Jefferson is famous for many things. Name one.”