Published 08:15 IST, February 24th 2021
US prez Joe Biden rolls back Trump-era citizenship test to its 2008 version
US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it is reverting to the 2008 version of the naturalisation civics test beginning March 1, 2021
Rescinding another move by his predecessor, American President Joe Biden has reverted the US citizenship test to its 2008 version. While Donald Trump pulled all stops to “protect Americans” from immigrants, Biden has been making efforts to make the US all-inclusive. The announcement was made by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS ), which said that it was reverting to the 2008 version of the neutralization civics text scheduled to start on March 1.
Changes introduced by Trump
Originally, the test comprised of 100 questions. The Trump administration had made some alterations to the test, called the “2020 civics test”, and increased the number of questions to 128. Additionally, the correct answers in the multiple choice also have a political undertone, as reported by PTI. Doubling down on the latest decision, the USCIS said that the Trump administration’s revised test "may inadvertently create potential barriers" to the naturalisation process.
"This action is consistent with the framework of the Executive Order on Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems, which directs a comprehensive review of the naturalisation process to eliminate barriers and make the process more accessible to all eligible individuals," USCIS said in a statement.
The announcement comes as American authorities said they have received enough petitions needed to reach the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for the fiscal year 2021. As per the process, authorities will now select the successful candidates for a work visa by a computerized draw of the total applicants. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from across the world apply for the H-1B visa to live the ‘American dream’.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. As per official data, foreign workers at tech companies like TCS, Cognizant, Infosys, and Wipro make up to 50 per cent of their worker’s population.
Updated 08:16 IST, February 24th 2021