The Trump administration has claimed that current citizenship tests are "too easy" and has revealed plans to revamp them.
Joseph Edlow, now the confirmed director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is making headlines with plans to overhaul the naturalization test, describing the current version as far too easy.
“The test as it’s laid out right now, it’s not very difficult,” Edlow told the New York Times. “It’s very easy to kind of memorize the answers. I don’t think we’re really comporting with the spirit of the law.”
Edlow believes the test doesn’t do enough to reflect the seriousness of becoming a U.S. citizen.
He added: “I think it absolutely should be a net positive, and if we're looking at the people that are coming over, that are especially coming over to advance certain economic agendas that we have and otherwise benefit the national interest — that's absolutely what we need to be taking care of.”
The civics portion of the citizenship test was standardized under the George W. Bush administration in 2008.
It required applicants to correctly answer 6 out of 10 questions pulled from a list of 100.
Under Trump’s first term, the test was expanded to 128 possible questions, with applicants needing to answer 12 out of 20 correctly - a version the Biden administration rolled back in March 2021.
Edlow has now confirmed that USCIS is planning to revert to the more rigorous 2020 model.
And that’s not all. The Trump administration is also taking aim at the H-1B visa program, a longtime source of tension between hardline immigration advocates and leaders in the tech industry.
The H-1B program, which currently offers 85,000 visas annually for high-skilled foreign workers through a lottery system, could soon be seeing major changes.
Edlow has suggested the program should prioritize applicants expected to earn higher salaries - a move he argues would better protect U.S. workers from being undercut.
“I really do think that the way H-1B needs to be used, and this is one of my favorite phrases, is to, along with a lot of other parts of immigration, supplement, not supplant, U.S. economy and U.S. businesses and U.S. workers,” Edlow said.
He also acknowledged that some companies have been known to exploit the H-1B system by offering lower wages to foreign workers, creating unfair competition for Americans in the job market.
This push to prioritize higher-wage applicants is part of a broader effort to align immigration policy with what Edlow calls the “national interest.”
But the idea hasn’t gone unchallenged. Doug Rand, a former official in the Biden administration, argues the move would fundamentally shift the purpose of the program.
“Like it or not, the H-1B program is the main way that U.S. companies can hire the best and brightest international graduates of U.S. universities, and Congress never allowed D.H.S. to put its thumb on the scale based on salary,” he said.
While the proposed changes are not yet finalized, they would have to pass through the federal rule-making process before taking effect.
If implemented, they could reshape how American companies hire foreign talent - and how immigrants become U.S. citizens.