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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.”
Iran’s military, on Saturday, declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again, hours after reopening it and with more than a dozen commercial ships passing through the vital waterway.
The toing and froing over the strait cast doubt on US President Donald Trump’s optimism the day before, that a peace deal to end the US-Israeli war with Iran was “very close”.
Tehran had on Friday declared the strait, which usually carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, open on Friday after a ceasefire was agreed in Lebanon to halt Israel’s war with Hezbollah.
That prompted elation in global markets and sent oil prices plunging, but with Trump insisting that a US naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a deal was concluded, Tehran threatened to shutter the strait once more.
Then, late on Saturday morning, citing a statement from military central command, Iranian state TV reported that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous status” and “is under strict management and control of the armed forces”, blaming the continued US blockade.
The announcement came as maritime tracking sites showed several ships making a dash through the narrow waterway, hugging close to Iranian territorial waters as instructed by Tehran and, for some, broadcasting their identity as Indian or Chinese in an apparent attempt to show their neutrality.
The same sites showed that late on Friday, a number of ships began heading for the strait before suddenly turning back amid the uncertainty.
By 0900 GMT on Saturday, several ships had fully transited the strait in both directions, but at least two tankers headed eastwards from the Gulf towards India after loading in UAE ports appeared to have turned around and aborted their journeys.
There are just four days remaining before the end of the two-week ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran, launched by Washington and its ally on February 28.
Nevertheless, President Trump appeared convinced that a deal could be finished shortly.
He declared Friday “GREAT AND BRILLIANT,” and made a series of social media posts praising talks mediator Pakistan.
Islamabad’s powerful military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, on Saturday finished a three-day visit to Iran aimed at securing the peace deal, during which he met Iran’s top leadership.
While Munir was in Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to push the peace process.
Islamabad has emerged as the lead mediator during the conflict, hosting a marathon round of direct peace talks last weekend attended by US Vice President JD Vance.
A second round of talks is expected in the Pakistani capital this coming week, with envoys hoping to end the war that was started by the US and Israel on February 28.
The allies launched a massive wave of surprise attacks on Iran, despite Washington and Tehran being engaged in diplomatic talks, that killed Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and numerous senior leaders.
The war rapidly spread across the region, with Iran targeting US interests in the Gulf and Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into the conflict by launching rockets at Israel.
In a sign that the two-week ceasefire remained stable, Iran’s civil aviation agency declared its airspace was open again, with international flights able to transit Iran via the east of the country.
Nevertheless, two major sticking points in the peace talks — Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and the future of the Strait of Hormuz — appeared up in the air.
Speaking by phone with AFP on Friday, Trump said “we’re very close to having a deal,” adding that there were “no sticking points at all” left with Tehran.
Later the same day, at an event in Arizona, the president declared that Iran had agreed to hand over its 440 or so kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent — close to that needed for a bomb.
“We’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” he said.
But hours before, Iran’s foreign ministry had said its stockpile, thought to be buried deep under rubble by US bombing in last June’s 12-day war, was not going anywhere.
“Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state TV.
“Transfer of Iran’s enriched uranium to the US has never been raised in negotiations.”
Ordinary Iranians, meanwhile, remained cut off from the international internet, with monitor netblocks announcing on Saturday that the blackout implemented at the start of the war had reached its 50th day.
AFP
Veteran journalist and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Dele Momodu, has declared that a joint presidential ticket between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi represents the strongest strategy for the opposition to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television, Momodu said the emerging ADC coalition is gaining momentum as a credible alternative to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which he accused of promoting “one-man rule” and weakening democratic institutions.
Momodu argued that an Atiku–Obi ticket offers both experience and electoral appeal, noting that both politicians already command significant national followings from previous elections. He recalled their collaboration in 2019, adding that Obi’s performance in the 2023 presidential election provides a ready base of supporters that can be consolidated.
According to him, the coalition is further strengthened by the involvement of political heavyweights such as Rabiu Kwankwaso and Rotimi Amaechi, making it a formidable opposition alliance.
“The candidates who placed second, third, and even fourth are aligning. That naturally builds a strong challenge,” Momodu said, suggesting that this development could unsettle the APC ahead of 2027.
He also accused the Tinubu administration of centralising power and undermining democratic processes, claiming that key institutions—including the legislature and electoral system—are increasingly influenced by the executive arm of government. He warned that such a trend poses risks to Nigeria’s democracy.
Momodu further alleged that opposition parties face systemic obstacles, including difficulties in accessing venues, legal pressures, and institutional interference. He argued that these challenges have made opposition unity not just strategic, but necessary.
Dismissing concerns about possible cracks within the ADC coalition, Momodu described such fears as speculative, insisting that current political realities have effectively forced major opposition figures to work together.
The Supreme Court has scheduled hearing for April 22 in the appeal filed by the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator David Mark, in relation to the leadership dispute in the party.
Mark’s appeal is against the March 12 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed his appeal against the September 4, 2025 ruling by Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja refusing to grant some injunctive reliefs contained in an ex-parte application filed by a chieftain of the party, Nafiu Bala Gombe.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Mohammed Garba chose the date on Tuesday after granting accelerated hearing in the appeal marked: SC/CV/180/2026.
The court ordered Mark’s lawyer, Jibril Okutepa (SAN) to file the appellant’s brief and serve on Wednesday.
It ordered the respondents to each file and serve on the appellant, a respondent’s brief within three days of being served with the appellant’s brief.
The appellant, according to the court, is to file a reply brief, if needs be, within one day of being served with the respondents’ briefs.
