Overview
- Officers will draw up to 20 questions from a 128‑item bank and end the test once an applicant reaches 12 correct or nine incorrect answers.
- Passing now requires 12 correct responses, replacing the 2008 standard of six correct out of 10 questions.
- USCIS says many questions were rewritten to be more complex and to require longer, more specific answers.
- Applicants who filed before the rule—or within 30 days of the Federal Register notice—will take the 2008 version, and the 65‑plus with 20 years as a resident exception remains in place.
- USCIS has updated study materials and frames the overhaul as part of 2025 actions that include stricter screening, tighter disability‑exception reviews, new good‑moral‑character guidance, and renewed neighborhood investigations.