USCIS Updates the Naturalization Civics Test — Again

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on September 18, 2025, that it is reimplementing the agency’s 2020 Naturalization Civics Test (originally announced November 13, 2020), with some modifications. The new test will be given to aliens who file a naturalization application on October 18, 2025, or later.

The Naturalization Civics Test is given to satisfy the statutory requirements for aliens to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of American history and of the principles and form of government of the United States in order to naturalize as a U.S. citizen. This update will not impact the English-language portion of the naturalization test.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), at section 312, sets the English-language and civics requirement for naturalization, which is the term used to describe the process by which a non-citizen acquires citizenship. The law requires that a naturalization applicant have “an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write, and speak words in ordinary usage in the English language” and “knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of the history, and of the principles and form of government, of the United States”.

USCIS, the federal agency charged with administering these standards, has discretion over how it determines if naturalization applicants meet these requirements. The agency said it was implementing the new version of this test in order to comply with Executive Order (EO) 14161, “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” (January 20, 2025). That EO directed the secretary of Homeland Security to “Evaluate the adequacy of programs designed to ensure the proper assimilation of lawful immigrants into the United States, and recommend any additional measures to be taken that promote a unified American identity and attachment to the Constitution, laws, and founding principles of the United States.”

Under the 2008 version of the civics test (the version used during the Biden administration), applicants for naturalization are provided 100 possible questions they could be asked during the test. USCIS also provides the answers to these questions so applicants can easily study. During the actual test, USCIS officers ask applicants up to 10 questions from that list of 100. To pass this portion of the test, an applicant must get six right.

The 2020 version of the civics test (finalized under the first Trump administration) increased the list of potential questions from 100 to 128. Many of the original questions were retained while others were rephrased to ensure a sufficient number of questions with various degrees of difficulty. All questions and answers were vetted by the U.S. Library of Congress to ensure their accuracy, and again USCIS made all answers available so applicants could prepare. During the period in which USCIS administered this version, the agency required applicants to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly in order to pass. The Biden administration promptly scrapped this version of the test in upon taking office 2021, despite CIS sources indicating that the passage rate for the 2020 test was nearly identical to the 2008 version.

This 2025 version of the test is substantively similar to the 2020 version, but with one key modification. For the 2020 version, officers were required to orally ask all 20 test questions regardless of whether the alien had already answered a sufficient number to either pass or fail the test. In the 2025 update, “officers will only be required to ask questions until the alien either passes or fails the test”. All other aspects of the test will remain the same when compared to the 2020 version.

USCIS explained that, “The implementation of the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test [as compared to the 2020 version] is a procedural change and will not change the passing score.” The agency added that it believes, “These changes balance the need of USCIS to ascertain the aliens’ knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of American history, and of the principles and form of government of the United States with the time available for each interview, and take into account feedback USCIS received in response to the initial implementation of the 2020 Naturalization Civics Test.”

USCIS announced that it will also update the Naturalization Test and Study Materials and Resources for Educational Programs that aliens may consult to study for the test. “These study guide materials will also include the bank of 128 possible civics test questions, from which 20 test questions will be randomly selected for each individual test, along with the answers to those questions.” Materials relevant to the 2008 version will also be available online for those who will be administered the 2008 test based on their application filing date.

The new test will be given to aliens who file a naturalization application on October 18, 2025 or later.