The United States Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced that it will implement a new civics test for those applying for naturalization. Beginning in the middle of October 2025, those applying for citizenship will be required to correctly answer 12 out of 20 questions that are randomly selected from an updated bank of 128 questions.

The questions are intended to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and the civics test is required under U.S. law. Applicants are asked each question orally and they must provide a correct response. The questions are not multiple choice, though often there are multiple answers that could be correct.

Previously, applicants would only have to answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly, and they were provided a pool of 100 questions to study. With this change, the number of possible questions increases to 128, and applicants will be required to answer twice as many questions correctly.

Another change as part of this update is the way in which the test is administered. Previously, applicants were asked all questions regardless if they had already reached the threshold of correct answers. Starting in October, if the applicant has already answered the requisite number of correct questions, they won't be asked any further questions. So, once 12 correct answers are provided, the immigration office will stop administering the test. The opposite is also true: if the applicant has provided 9 incorrect answers, the test will stop and they will have received their

Special consideration is given to applicants over the age of 65 who have lived in the United States as a lawful permanent resident for at least 20 years. In this special case, the applicant will only be required to answer 10 correct questions from a specially-selected bank of 20 test questions.

The civics test is one of the core requirements for becoming a naturalized citizen. The other requirements include proof of living in the United States as a lawful permanent resident for at least 5 years (or 3 years if married to a U.S. citizen), the ability to read, write, and speak English, evidence of good moral character, and taking an oath of allegiant to the U.S. Constitution.

At the Law Offices of Spojmie Nasiri, PC, our immigration legal team assists immigrants every step of the way towards applying for U.S. citizenship, including preparing for the civics test.