Sometime "during this winter," ten cities across the United States will begin to administer the new format of the citizenship examination for volunteers seeking naturalization.

The stated goal of the new format for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) naturalization exam is to make it more meaningful and less focused on trivial information.

For example, being able to demonstrate knowledge of voting rights and English language will now have more emphasis than which State was admitted as the 49th State, the colors of the American flag or who wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

The pilot program will continue through 2007. More cities may be added, but the new format should remain voluntary until 2008, when it should have been finalized and will become mandatory for all applicants.

The new exam will be given to volunteers beginning this winter in Albany, N.Y.; Boston; Charleston, S.C.; Denver; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Miami; San Antonio; Tucson, Ariz.; and Yakima, Wash.

The current test is heavy on historical facts, including non-critical questions such as the name of the form used to apply for citizenship. The new exam will ask about the Bill of Rights and the meaning of democracy.

"The idea is not to toss up roadblocks, it's to make sure people who apply for citizenship and want to become citizens understand and adhere to the values we have as a society, the values that are part of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights," said Shawn Saucier, spokesman for the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The current exam doesn't guarantee knowledge of those values, Saucier said. A person may know which state was the 49th to be added to the union, for example, but not understand voting rights, he said.

The portion of the citizenship exam used to test basic English reading and writing skills also will be changed to include civic vocabulary words, Saucier said.


So, what will it look like?

Officials will test 125 new questions on 5,000 people, eventually narrowing the group of questions down to 100, the same number that can be asked on the current exam. To pass, immigrants must correctly answer six of 10 questions given. If they fail during the trial period for the new format, they will be given the option of taking the old test.

The general idea of the test will not change. There will be 100 questions that a potential U.S. citizen might be asked, but during their examination only ten are actually asked. It will remain an oral test, requiring participants to speak their answers clearly in English.

The questions and answers will be publicly available and are expected to draw on concepts in the nation's founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

The changes could make the exam more difficult for some people, said America Calderon, the program manager at the Central Resource Center, a Washington, D.C., organization that offers citizenship and other programs to Latino immigrants. She guessed it also could push more people into formal classes, instead of trying to learn the information on their own.

All U.S. citizens - not just new ones - could brush up on their civic knowledge, said Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank that supports the assimilation of immigrants.

The USCIS is expected to call for a substantial hike in the $400 citizenship application fees.

More details of the changes are expected to announced publically on 29 November.

Historians with the USCIS explain that one of the goals of the test throughout American history has been to try to determine whether a potential citizen feels "attachment" to their new country. Previously that has been interpreted as demonstrating knowledge of the country. The purchase of war bonds and participation in wartime recycling have also been seen as proof of attachment in the past.

Canada offers a test similar to the current U.S. one, and Australia is currently debating the implementation of their own citizenship test - reportedly with at least one question regarding the sport of cricket.

Other Western nations are also requiring tests or are in the planning stage. The Netherlands shows a video featuring gay men and beach-going women to ensure that newcomers will be comfortable with the country's liberal social mores.

The changes in the US bring the test closer to the notion sweeping Europe that gaining citizenship requires subscribing to a set of shared values.

and the test will be given in 7 foreign languages....j/k

Yeah. Have your read my post? The news might be broken for you just now but not so for others.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42587

This has been near the top for awhile now!!! yawn, lol cheers

Another related news:

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 30, 8:35 AM ET



WASHINGTON - The government wants to make the citizenship test for immigrants more meaningful, requiring a better understanding of America's history and government institutions. No longer would it be sufficient to know the three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial). Applicants could also be asked why there are three branches of government.

The government on Thursday was to unveil 144 draft questions that it plans to try out on immigrant applicants in 10 cities where it is testing a new citizenship exam. Citizenship and Immigration Services planned to post the questions on its Web site at noon Thursday.

Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Homeland Security Department, has been working for several years to redesign the test. A 2003 attempt also was given a tryout in some cities, but it failed and was scuttled.

Acceptable answers to the question about why there are three branches of government could include: So that no branch is too powerful; or to separate the power of government, said Chris Rhatigan, an agency spokeswoman. Rhatigan provided examples of the test questions to The Associated Press.

The questions being released Thursday will be for the civics portion of the test and will be given orally to immigrants who volunteer to take the new draft test.

The redesign is aimed at making sure applicants know the meaning behind some of America's fundamental institutions, Rhatigan said.

"There's not one, rote SAT type question and answer," she said.

The draft civics questions will be tried out early next year in Albany, N.Y.; Boston; Charleston, S.C.; Denver; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Miami; San Antonio; Tucson, Ariz.; and Yakima, Wash.

The questions will go into use in the pilot cities before advocacy groups get a chance to point out any problems or concerns. After the questions are tested, the agency plans to spend a year examining results and reviewing the questions with groups with expertise and interest in the tests.

Immigration officials want to narrow the number of questions to 100 and launch the redesigned test in early 2008.

Another possible question would delve into the history of the Civil War. Applicants are now asked, What was the Emancipation Proclamation?

Current applicants need to know that it freed the slaves. In the future, however, prospective citizens will need to have a deeper understanding of the Civil War and name one of the problems that led to it.

Acceptable answers could include slavery, economics or states' rights, Rhatigan said.

In the pilot, volunteers answering the new test questions can at anytime stop and take the current exam so as not to lose the chance to become a citizen, Rhatigan said.

Immigration advocates said Wednesday they are wary of the questions. A variety of groups with varying ideologies about immigration have been working with Citizenship and Immigration Service, meeting with them monthly, to advise the agency on drafting the questions.

Immigration advocates want to ensure that the new test does not make becoming a citizen more difficult, while groups that want to control immigration want to ensure newcomers are not simply memorizing information.

Fred Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the question about three branches of government is vague.

"The answer could be anything from because the Constitution says so to a long lecture on 18th century French political philosophy, which is where we got the idea," Tsao said.