Washington:
The Biden administration has announced to do away with the stringent Trump-era citizenship test and revert to the less difficult 2008 version, producing the US naturalisation method more accessible to all eligible men and women.
The new method comes into impact on March 1, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stated in a press release on Monday.
On December 1 final year, USCIS implemented a revised naturalisation civics test, named the 2020 civics test, as element of a decennial test evaluation and update method.
The civics test is administered to applicants who apply for US citizenship by way of naturalisation and is one of the statutory needs for naturalising. Applicants ought to demonstrate a information and understanding of the fundamentals of the history, principles, and kind of government of the United States.
The earlier Trump administration had introduced some alterations to the 2020 civics test. It improved the quantity of concerns from one hundred to 128 and the right answers in the various-decision concerns had political and ideological overtones.
Announcing the reversal of the Trump policy, USCIS stated the 2020 civics test improvement method, content, testing procedures, and implementation schedule “may inadvertently create potential barriers to the naturalization process”.
“This action is consistent with the framework of the Executive Order on Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems, which directs a comprehensive review of the naturalization process to eliminate barriers and make the process more accessible to all eligible individuals,” it stated.
The federal agency asserted that the 2008 civics test was “thoroughly developed over a multi-year period with the input of more than 150 organisations, which included English as a second language experts, educators, and historians, and was piloted before its implementation”.
USCIS aspires to make the method as accessible as probable as directed by President Joe Biden”s request to evaluation the method completely, it stated.
The choice to naturalise demonstrates an investment in and commitment to US, USCIS stated, adding that it is committed to administering a test that is an instrument of civic understanding and fosters civic integration as element of the test preparation method.
Applicants who filed their application for naturalisation on or following December 1, 2020, and ahead of March 1, 2021, most likely have been studying for the 2020 test for that reason, USCIS will give these applicants the solution to take either the 2020 civics test or the 2008 civics test, it stated.
“There will be a transition period where both tests are being offered. The 2020 test will be phased out on April 19, 2021, for initial test takers. Applicants filing on or after March 1, 2021, will take the 2008 civics test,” USCIS stated.