ROANOKE, Va. – Removing barriers for potential citizens, the Biden administration is bringing back the old citizenship test.
Creating tougher questions and adding more of them, the Trump administration revised the U.S. Citizenship test last year.
In 2020, the Trump administration doubled the requirement by having people answer 12 out of 20 civic questions correctly.
The study guide was also altered to have 128 potential questions rather than 100.
Now, Biden’s administration is tossing out former President Trump’s version and reintroducing the 2008 version.
It’s a move one immigration lawyer agrees with as she said the former president’s version had one goal in mind.
“It just sends a message that we don’t want you immigrants,” said Rachel Thompson, an attorney with Poarch Thompson Law said. “That’s just not a message as a country that we have historically held.”
Though the test is easier, Thompson said she doesn’t foresee a spike in new citizens as other factors still pose limitations for the immigration process.
Applicants who filed on or after Dec. 1, 2020, but before March 1, 2021, with a citizenship interview scheduled before April 19, 2021, can choose which version of the test to take.