U.S. unveils new citizenship test

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has developed a new citizenship test it plans to introduce in 10 cities starting in early 2007.

Citizenship and Immigration Services officials in Washington said the new test is designed to assess a potential immigrant's understanding of the country and its civic values, rather than simply test factual knowledge like previous versions of the test, The New York Times reported Friday.

"Our goal is to inspire immigrants to learn about the civic values of this nation so that after they take the oath of citizenship they will participate fully in our great democracy," said Emilio Gonzalez, director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The new test includes 144 questions on civics and history, including 57 questions held over from previous versions of the exam. Citizenship applicants are required to answer 10 specific questions chosen from the test by the examiner. Six or more correct answers are required to pass.

The exam will be unveiled in 2007 in Albany, N.Y.; Boston; Charleston, S.C.; Denver; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Mo.; Miami; San Antonio; Tucson; and Yakima, Wash.