USCIS toughens path to US citizenship test with new moral character evaluation rules

President Donald Trump’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has tightened its evaluation standards for foreign nationals seeking naturalised American citizenship, issuing new guidance aimed at raising the bar for eligibility.

“U.S. citizenship is the gold standard of citizenship; it should only be offered to the world’s best of the best,” USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in an interview with Breitbart News.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow has issued a memo titled “Restoring a Rigorous, Holistic, and Comprehensive Good Moral Character Evaluation Standard for Aliens Applying for Naturalisation”. The directive calls for stricter determinations of good moral character when assessing applications.

“Today, USCIS is adding a new element to the naturalisation process that ensures America’s newest citizens not only embrace America’s culture, history, and language but also demonstrate Good Moral Character,” Tragesser said.

He added, “This memo ensures that USCIS officers are accounting for an alien’s positive contributions to American society, including community involvement, achievements, and financial responsibility, rather than the absence of their misconduct. USCIS will continue to restore integrity in the nation’s immigration system, especially when it comes to the prestigious privilege of citizenship.”

Under the revised policy, officers will evaluate an applicant’s positive attributes, such as civic engagement and responsibility, not merely the absence of wrongdoing.

The move follows Edlow’s criticism of the previous administration’s approach. In an interview with Breitbart News, he argued that former President Joe Biden’s administration had “truncated vital security questions” to speed up naturalisation. That approach, Edlow said, allowed millions to secure citizenship without rigorous checks.

During Biden’s four years, nearly 3.5 million foreign nationals were naturalised, a record number for any U.S. presidential term, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Today, more than 23 million naturalised Americans, born outside the United States, are eligible to vote in local, state, and federal elections.