{"id":58280,"date":"2025-12-02T11:25:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/58280\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:25:07","slug":"smarter-than-a-new-american-immigrant-new-yorkers-face-a-tougher-citizenship-exam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/58280\/","title":{"rendered":"Smarter than a new American? Immigrant New Yorkers face a tougher citizenship exam."},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 120,000 residents of the New York metropolitan area became U.S. citizens in 2024<\/a>. Those who want to follow in their footsteps will face a higher hurdle next year: a revised citizenship test instructors say will be more challenging.<\/p>\n

Citizenship test instructors across the five boroughs are bracing for the changes by overhauling their courses and familiarizing students with what to expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of new material to learn,\u201d said Caton McFadden, a teacher and curriculum developer at Brooklyn Public Library who helps immigrants become new Americans.<\/p>\n

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the revisions in September, which come as the Trump administration has clamped down on illegal immigration and curtailed some legal paths<\/a> to citizenship.<\/p>\n

In public remarks, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said<\/a> the current test was \u201cjust too easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of preparing to be asked any of 100 questions from a course package, future citizenship applicants will have to prepare for 128 questions, including some that instructors said required a more in-depth appreciation of U.S. history and government.<\/p>\n

The civics test is administered orally, instructors said, and would require students to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly going forward, instead of six out of 10 with the existing test.<\/p>\n

Matthew Tragesser, a spokesperson for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a September statement<\/a> that with the change, \u201cthe American people can be assured that those joining us as fellow citizens are fully assimilated and will contribute to America\u2019s greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican citizenship is the most sacred citizenship in the world,\u201d Tragesser said, \u201cand should only be reserved for aliens who will fully embrace our values and principles as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some immigrant rights advocates have criticized the Trump administration for the change.<\/p>\n

Nicole Melaku, the executive director of National Partnership for New Americans, said<\/a> in a statement that the new test \u201cis the latest deliberate and systemic barrier designed to exclude, not educate,\u201d and should not depend on literacy level or \u201carbitrary historical opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

NPNA said the introduction of the new test follows a notable increase in citizenship denials.<\/p>\n

According to an October NPNA report,<\/a> the Trump administration denied 10% of citizenship applications in its first six months, up from 8% in the last six months of the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

Organizations that help immigrants in New York prepare for the exam are forging ahead.<\/p>\n

Marybeth Ihle, a spokesperson for the Upper West Side-based New York Historical, said the organization\u2019s education department was in the process of revising its citizenship test course to adjust to the new curriculum.<\/p>\n

Ihle said the organization serves around 2,000 students annually, including through in-person and online instruction as well as study aids such as flash cards and videos<\/p>\n

McFadden said the Brooklyn Public Library\u2019s course would stretch to 12 weeks, up from 11, in response to the added demands of the new test. She said some of the new questions focused on the \u201cwhy\u201d and \u201chow\u201d of American governance.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, why is it important to pay federal taxes?\u201d she asked. \u201cOr what is the importance of the 10th Amendment? Why do we have the president only serve two terms? Why do the Supreme Court justices have a lifetime term?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the USCIS test package<\/a>, the acceptable responses to the question of why the president only serves two terms include \u201cbecause of the 22nd Amendment\u201d and \u201cto keep the president from becoming too powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another sample test question: \u201cName one power that is only for the federal government.\u201d The possible answers, according to the USCIS, include the ability to print paper money, mint coins, declare war, create an army, make treaties and set foreign policy.<\/p>\n

In addition to the new questions, McFadden said earlier questions had been revised. For example, applicants would be expected to name five of the original 13 American colonies, up from three in the current test.<\/p>\n

Carmen Gutierrez, the director of immigration services at Queens Community House, said with the revised test, \u201cit\u2019s not just memorizing answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to get the sense if [applicants] understand the questions and what they\u2019re answering,\u201d Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n

She added that the revisions would be easier for students who can \u201cexpress themselves\u201d in English.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our students, they have a limited understanding of English so it will be difficult for them to explain an answer,\u201d Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n

Despite the hurdles, McFadden said she felt \u201creally good\u201d about students\u2019 ability to tackle the changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been working with naturalization applicants for a very long time,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are always very diligent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new test will be administered to those who applied for citizenship after Oct. 20 this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 120,000 residents of the New York metropolitan area became U.S. citizens in 2024. Those who want to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-58280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}