PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 The federal government implemented a new, longer version of the naturalization test last month, making it a bit more difficult for green card holders to become U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n
The new test<\/a> became standard as of October 20th<\/a> as part of an executive order from the Trump administration earlier this year, and a Phoenix nonprofit is helping people study for the updated exam.<\/p>\n It is still oral exam with several accepted answers per question. However, the new version expands the list of potential questions from 100 to 128. Test takers will be asked 20 questions selected at random instead of 10, and will need to get 12 right to pass rather than six.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout 25 percent of it is new material, and a lot of the new material goes in depth into history and the constitution more so than before,\u201d said class instructor Ron Flater who is a retired U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer.<\/p>\n The new version focuses more on history and government while excluding geography questions found in the old test, such as identifying the country\u2019s northern and southern neighbors.<\/p>\n \u201cI suspect that the administration thought they were too easy. Their stated ambition was to make it harder to become a citizen,\u201d Flater said. While he has had to rework the course material, he does not want the changes to discourage hopeful applicants from continuing with the process.<\/p>\n The class happens every Wednesday night at 6:30p.m. at the Phoenix West Learning Center. It is sponsored by and hosted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 59th Avenue near Indian School Road. <\/p>\n \u201cMost of (the students) are people who are working the whole morning. Some of them (are) in construction, or cleaning, or whatever they do. And they do come tired,\u201d said nonprofit coordinator Esmeralda Maldonado.<\/p>\n The group also hosts classes for English as a second language and financial planning.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see how much effort they put in because they want to become better. They want to be better not just for their lives, but also for their children or grandbabies,\u201d said Maldonado.<\/p>\n See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it<\/a>.<\/p>\n