Headlines
New Test Begins for Green Card Holders Seeking US Citizenship
Experts have warned that green card holders now face a tougher path to United States citizenship, as a new civics test demanding higher scores came into effect Monday.
“The changes to the naturalization test could make passage more difficult for some test takers,” Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Program at the Migration Policy Institute, told Newsweek:
The new test comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten the U.S. immigration system, with applicants seeking citizenship now facing increased scrutiny in the form of community interviews, and the federal government looking out for whether immigrants show they hold American values and are of good moral character.
Starting October 20, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will require all applicants for U.S. citizenship to take the updated 2025 Naturalization Civics Test. The revised exam is designed to evaluate applicants’ knowledge of U.S. history and government more thoroughly, and those filing Form N-400 on or after this date will also undergo moral character assessments.
Applicants who submit their applications before October 20 will follow the previous testing guidelines.
Under the previous 2008 Naturalization Civics Test, applicants must answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly, according to USCIS.
These 10 questions are randomly selected from a pool of 100. The upcoming 2025 Naturalization Civics Test will expand the question pool to 128 and require applicants to answer 12 of 20 questions correctly to pass.
The new question set combines items from both the 2008 and 2020 tests. The exam remains pass/fail, and a USCIS officer will continue asking questions until a pass or fail determination can be made.
Applicants aged 65 and older who have been legal permanent residents for at least 20 years will take a modified version of the test. This version includes 10 questions randomly chosen from a bank of 20, drawn from the 2008 and 2020 tests.
Some answers on the civics test may change over time due to federal or state elections, judicial appointments, or updates to laws.
“In the past, experts have advised that the naturalization test be carefully designed and tested to ensure that it is measuring what it is meant to measure,” Gelatt said. “That has not yet happened. Without assessment, it is not clear that the test that was in place was failing to properly measure knowledge of U.S. civics, or that the new test will do a better job.”
Under the new rules, not all 20 questions may need to be asked. The questioning will stop once an applicant has either answered 12 questions correctly, meeting the passing threshold, or answered 9 questions incorrectly, therefore failing the test.
Applicants are allowed to retake the test if they do not pass on their first attempt. However, failing the test twice will result in the denial of their citizenship application.
The question pool has also been expanded to cover more challenging topics related to U.S. history, government, and national symbols.
A version of the updated civics test was initially introduced during President Donald Trump’s first term. Under former President Joe Biden, USCIS returned to the 2008 version of the test.
Green card holders face revocation if eligibility or legal issues are identified. The Trump administration has targeted green card holders and applicants with criminal histories as part of their mass deportation plans.
What people are saying
Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Program at the Migration Policy Institute, told Newsweek: “This new test is also being implemented as the Trump administration has pulled back funding for English and civics education, and is seeking to reduce future funding, which will make it harder for some noncitizens to prepare for the test. And it is happening while other changes are being made to the naturalization process, including a requirement that naturalization applicants provide evidence that they have ‘good moral character,’ and the reimplementation of neighborhood checks for some applicants. Taken all together, it seems likely that a smaller share of naturalization applicants will be successful going forward.”
USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in a statement: “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. By ensuring only those aliens who meet all eligibility requirements, including the ability to read, write, and speak English and understand U.S. government and civics, are able to naturalize, the American people can be assured that those joining us as fellow citizens are fully assimilated and will contribute to America’s greatness. These critical changes are the first of many.”
Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former director of the U.S. Immigration Service, told Newsweek in September: “The way in which they’re explaining why they’re doing this, really casts doubt on people’s eligibility. It suggests that people applying for naturalization are somehow either not eligible or have questionable intent for naturalizing or it needs to be clearly established that they will be good Americans.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, its suspended National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, and former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose.
Their expulsion was announced on Saturday at the party’s National Convention in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has insisted that there is Christian genocide ongoing in Nigeria, hence demanding end to the alleged Christian killings.
Speaking on Thursday after an emergency executive meeting of the Fellowship held at its national headquarters in Lagos, PFN President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, said the body would no longer remain silent while Christians are “targeted, killed, raped, and displaced” across the country.
He said: “There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria. If we call it by any other name, it will bring Nigeria down. We are crying out to our international friends, beginning with America and Donald Trump. Whatever you can do to help our government put an end to it, come quickly and get it done. When on Christmas Day, Christmas Day was turned a bloody day in Benue State, and hundreds were massacred. And we are to be conducting mass funerals when we are not in open conflict. What do you call that? And this is different from individual cases.
“Let us call a spade a spade. There is Christian genocide ongoing in Nigeria,”Bishop Oke declared.
“Even while we speak, killings are still taking place in Borno, Plateau, and Benue states. When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogon Noma in Plateau, what do we call that? When Christmas Day turned into a bloody day in Benue, with hundreds massacred, what name should we give it?
While noting that the United States President Donald Trump spoke the truth, the PRN President cited the case of Leah Sharibu who was abducted alongside other Chibok girls and has since remained in captivity.
“Like the case of Leah Sharibu. Where is Leah Sharibu? Like the case of Deborah that was lynched and burned alive in Sokoto? What about that? And several of our girls were kidnapped and forced, given out as wives by force without the consent of their parents and their Christian parents. And the Christian parents would not see them for years.And this has been going on. We have been talking and we are not taking it seriously. And it has been going on again and again, until Donald Trump now spoke. And Donald Trump spoke the truth. There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria.
“Like you will have picked in the news, even since this narrative began, killing was still going on in Borno, in Plateau, in Benue, up until yesterday. What are we saying? When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogonaya in Plateau State, what do we call that? And for no offense other than they are Christians.”
Oke recalled that the Christian community had repeatedly called the attention of the government to the alleged genocide with no decisive action from the authority.
The cleric expressed his backing for President Trump’s intervention, adding that Trump only echoed what Nigerian Christians had been saying for year
“I was part of the team that went to see the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari. We spoke very strongly about this and the President listened to us, but he completely ignored the main issue we came for, If we came and spoke with such vehemence, with such passion, and then you pick the peripheral matter and left this matter alone, I knew that day that his government was complicit in what was going on,” he added.
Oke alleged that the killings across parts of Nigeria were systematic and targeted on Christians, lamenting that the killings had continued unchecked despite repeated appeals from the Church.
“The evidence is all over the place. There is nothing anybody can say that can whitewash it. It is evil, it is blood shedding, it is mass murder and it is genocide. The time to stop it is now. That is what the church in Nigeria is saying with one voice.
“Christians in this nation must be free to practice their faith in any part of Nigeria as bona fide citizens of Nigeria.
“These armed bandits, Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, ISWAP, all of them using Islam as a cover. We have been living in peace with our Muslim brothers for a long, until this violent Islamic sect came up with an intent to make sure they impose Sharia on all Nigerians,” Oke said.
Bishop Oke called on President Bola Tinubu to decisively overhaul the nation’s security architecture, and ensure justice for victims of religious violence. He questioned why those responsible for notorious attacks—such as the killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto and the abduction of Leah Sharibu and the Chibok schoolgirls—remain unpunished.
“The government should prove by action, not words, that it is not complicit,” he said. “When hundreds are buried in mass graves and the whole world sees it, who can deny it? Why should we play politics with the blood of Nigerians?”
The PFN urged President Tinubu’s administration to rebuild trust by ensuring that the security architecture of the country is not infiltrated by those sympathetic to extremist ideologies.
Oke further condemned the government’s rehabilitation of so-called “repentant terrorists,” describing the move as a grave security.
He assured Christians that the PFN would continue to speak out until the killings stop. “We are not going to keep quiet. We will keep raising our voices until justice is done and every Nigerian, regardless of faith, can live in peace. The truth may be suppressed for a time, but it cannot be buried forever,” he said.
The meeting, which drew PFN leaders from across the country, reaffirmed the body’s commitment to national unity, peace, and the protection of fundamental human rights, while urging the media to “side with the oppressed” and report the truth without fear or bias.
US President Donald Trump has signed a federal spending bill, officially ending the longest government shutdown in American history.
The legislation, passed by the House of Representatives in a 222–209 vote, followed narrow approval in the Senate just two days earlier. The bill restores funding to federal agencies after 43 days of closure, bringing relief to millions of government employees and citizens affected by halted services.
Speaking after signing the measure on Wednesday night, Trump described the deal as a political victory, asserting that Democrats unnecessarily prolonged the shutdown.
“They didn’t want to do it the easy way. They had to do it the hard way, and they look very bad,” he said.
The temporary funding bill maintains government operations only through 30 January, creating a new deadline for lawmakers to negotiate a long-term budget solution.
As part of the agreement, Senate leaders committed to an early December vote on Obamacare subsidies, a key priority for Democrats during the shutdown standoff.
In addition to reopening federal offices, the bill provides full-year funding for the Department of Agriculture, military construction projects, and several legislative branch offices.
It also ensures retroactive pay for federal workers affected by the shutdown and allocates funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, which helps about one in eight Americans access food.
The shutdown, which began in October, forced the suspension of many government services, leaving an estimated 1.4 million federal employees either furloughed or working without pay. It also disrupted food assistance programmes and caused widespread delays in domestic air travel.
With federal operations now resumed, attention in Washington has turned to whether Congress and the White House can reach a longer-term funding agreement before the new deadline at the end of January.
