Learn About the United States

As you prepare for U.S. citizenship, Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons will help you study for the civics and English portions of the naturalization interview. There are 100 civics (history and government) questions on the naturalization test. During your naturalization interview, you will be asked up to 10 questions from the list of 100 questions. You must answer correctly at least six (6) of the 10 questions to pass the civics test. Applicants who are age 65 or older and have been a permanent resident for at least 20 years at the time of filing the Application for Naturalization, Form N-400 are only required to study 20 of the 100 civics test questions for the naturalization test. These questions are flagged with an asterisk (*) in this booklet. Learn About the United States contains short lessons based on each of the 100 civics (history and government) questions. This additional information will help you learn more about important concepts in American history and government. During your naturalization interview, you will not be tested on the additional information in the short lessons. There are three components to the English portion of the test: speaking, reading, and writing. Your ability to speak English is determined by the USCIS Officer based on your answers to questions normally asked during the eligibility interview on the Application for Naturalization, Form N-400. For the reading test, you must read one (1) out of three (3) sentences correctly to demonstrate an ability to read in English. There is a reading vocabulary list with all the words found in the English reading portion of the naturalization test included in the back of this booklet. For the writing test, you must write one (1) out of three (3) sentences correctly to demonstrate an ability to write in English. There is a writing vocabulary list with all the words found in the English writing portion of the naturalization test included in the back of this booklet.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It performs many administrative functions formerly carried out by the legacy United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was part of the Department of Justice. The stated priorities of the USCIS are to promote national security, to eliminate immigration case backlogs, and to improve customer services. USCIS is charged with processing immigrant visa petitions, naturalization petitions, and asylum and refugee applications, as well as making adjudicative decisions performed at the service centers, and managing all other immigration benefits functions.