Web Desk:
According to Fox News, the Biden administration announced plans to alter the civics component of the naturalization test required for immigrants to become U.S. citizens by changing responses to multiple choices and adding new material to be covered.
According to a notice in the Federal Register published Wednesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to conduct a trial next year to ultimately make the change to the test.
The current test requires applicants to answer six of 10 questions correctly, with questions taken from a bank of 100 possible questions. The questions are asked orally. The proposed new test would show questions on a tablet screen, and applicants would choose an answer from four multiple-choice responses.
The Federal Register notice also indicated that the trial test will cover some new material in addition to what is currently being tested.
The Trump administration had proposed its changes to the test — keeping the oral administration but requiring most applicants to answer 12 of 20 questions correctly — but the Biden administration scrapped those changes.
The Biden administration is also looking into a standardized English-speaking component of the test, which will involve applicants asked to describe several photographs.
The trial is expected to run for five months in 2023, with the expectation of implementing the changes in late 2024.
