September 17, 2004

For those looking for yet another excuse to raise a glass, tomorrow is Citizenship Day.

More earnest than exciting, the observance was designated by President Harry Truman in 1952 to focus on the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizens, both native-born and naturalized.

This Citizenship Day comes amid an overhaul of the citizenship test taken every year by hundreds of thousands of immigrants. About 28,000 immigrants across the country will swear allegiance to the United States tomorrow, joining another 456,000 who have been naturalized this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. That's down from last year, when 640,000 became citizens.

Under way since 2001, the changeover is designed to standardize the test and make it more fair, said Sharon Rummery, Western Region spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

As with the current exam, applicants will be tested on English proficiency and knowledge of United States history and government, Rummery said. "But we're looking at questions we can ask that will be more relevant to everyday life.

"We feel we can come up with questions that will more accurately reflect a person's ability to function as an American citizen," she said. "For example, are they able to ask someone for directions, or give directions when asked?"

A main problem with the current test, she said, is that the difficulty depends on which 10 questions are chosen from a list of 100 – a choice that varies from city to city. Sample questions include:

What is the capital of your state? Who becomes president of the United States if the president and vice president should die? Can you name the 13 original states? What is the date of Independence Day? What do the stars on the flag mean?

(Answers: Sacramento; Speaker of the House; Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia; July 4th; they represent the 50 states.)

With the current test, applicants demonstrate English proficiency by reading a sentence aloud and then writing a sentence dictated to them. On the new test, they will have to discuss what two photographs show and write a description of a third photo.

Applicants will also be given a short paragraph to read and will be asked several multiple-choice questions about it. Another section of the test may require applicants to select a constitutional right from a short list.

Among most popular topics suggested so far for inclusion on the new test are questions about the founding of the United States, the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement.

California has two (Sacramento and Los Angeles) of five cities where questions from the new citizenship test are being asked of prospective citizens, Rummery said. (Their answers do not count in their scores.)

It could take two more years for the new test to be written and evaluated for effectiveness, she said, a process which will include a 60-day, public-comment period.

Already, the nation's largest Latino advocacy organization, the National Council of La Raza, has issued a statement cautioning that the test may prove too difficult for many immigrants, discouraging them from pursuing citizenship.

The test, Rummery noted, is part of a years-long process in which prospective citizens must successfully apply for a visa before migrating here; undergo background checks and interviews before getting a Green Card establishing residence; wait five years to demonstrate "good moral character"; and apply to become a citizen and submit to a further background check before being allowed to take the test.

The final step before being granted citizenship is taking an oath of allegiance to the United States.

The changes are part of the government effort to approach citizenship differently in the post-9/11 era. Last year, a separate Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services was formed, under the Department of Homeland Security. Its focus is to educate immigrants about what citizenship means and to speed up the application process. Immigration authorities have long been criticized for taking months, if not years, to process these applications.

To that end, the government has opened offices devoted exclusively to these duties. One of them opened last year in Chula Vista.

All of this change comes with a price, of course.

The fees for applying for citizenship jumped nearly 19 percent this spring, to $320, plus applicants must pay additional fees for fingerprinting and other services.

Source - http://uscis.gov/