Trump’s new citizenship test rule: Fail this part and your interview ends immediately
What rules does the Trump administration’s new naturalization test change regarding the questions immigrants must answer?
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an alert on Monday announcing changes to its naturalization test policies.
The new guidance modifies the procedures used by USCIS officers, as well as the criteria for determining whether candidates pass or fail, in line with the stricter approach previously announced by the U.S. government.
When does the USCIS officer stop the test?
The USCIS update confirms that the 2025 version of the naturalization civics test requires a minimum of 12 correct answers to pass — double the previous requirement of six. The test will now include 20 questions, up from 10.
Accordingly, USCIS has established new rules for when officers must stop the applicant’s test, whether the applicant passes or fails.
The USCIS policy alert specifies: “Officers must stop the test when the applicant correctly answers the minimum number of 12 questions required to pass the test, or answers nine questions incorrectly.”
“This is the only modification in the administration of the test as compared to the 2020 Naturalization Civics Test”, the agency added.
In other words, applicants will face a test of 20 questions, but officers are now required to stop the interview once the applicant either answers 12 correctly or fails nine.
When will the new U.S. citizenship test take effect?
USCIS began administering the new version of the civics test on October 20, 2025, for applicants who filed for naturalization on or after that date.
The key changes in this year’s version include:
- Expanding the overall civics question bank to 128 (previously 100)
- Increasing the number of civics questions to 20 (previously 10)
- Raising the number of correct answers required to pass to 12 (previously six).
The agency also plans to tighten English-language requirements and strengthen candidate verification procedures, including possible neighborhood interviews.
The changes to the U.S. citizenship test stem from one of President Trump’s executive orders titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorist Entry and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 4:09 PM.
