by BRITTANY PENLAND
News Reporter

Gaining citizenship in the United States requires the knowledge of historical information even a born American would have to study.

Immigrants who apply for U.S. citizenship must complete a naturalization application and take a U.S. citizenship test, Bill Wright, spokesman of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

“The research is pretty clear that most people don’t know much about politics, so they generally fail these types of knowledge tests about politicians, about issues, about things that you would think people should know about the country, that would include a citizenship test,” Todd K. Hartman, Appalachian State University government and justice studies professor said.

To gain citizenship, applicants have to pass the verbal citizenship test administered by an immigration officer, Chris Rhatigan, spokeswoman of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

Applicants must answer six out of 10 questions correctly to pass. 

“[Immigrants] have responsibilities to understand the civic information in the community,” Rhatigan said. “With this test, they are just as prepared to be an American as you and I.”

Topics on the citizenship test range from symbols of America to geography and politics, Rhatigan said.

Applicants are given 100 questions to study from before taking the test.

“Does knowing the number of stars on the flag make you a better citizen? I don’t think so,” Phillip J. Ardoin, government and justice studies assistant professor said. “Knowing the words to the pledge of allegiance, does that make you a better citizen? I don’t think so, but it’s important for a country to socialize their citizens and to the culture of the country.”

The total cost of the naturalization application and biometric fee is $595, Wright said.

This cost has risen $265 since last year.

“A better question [for immigrants] is do you understand the implications of drilling offshore, or the implications of the cost of having a national health care system,” Ardoin said. “Those are much more important issues than the facts that you need to know to pass a citizenship test.”

Wright said 331,822 people attempted the citizenship test between January and July 2008.

From 2007 to July 2008, a total of 605,727 people were naturalized.

“If there are no name changes and they passed the security check, then they are ready to be sworn in,” Wright said. “There is no reason to hold them back from being naturalized and being able to become citizens.”

Wright said many applicants who pass the U.S. citizenship test are often naturalized in the same day.

“I assume anyone who goes through [the test] makes an effort to study and pass,” Ardoin said. “We want them to understand the basic values of our country and the basic history of our country.”

USCIS implemented a new naturalization test Wednesday, Rhatigan said.

A pilot of the test was launched last year in 10 different parts of the country on 6,000 applicants.

“I think that on the one hand, you would want a set of questions that makes people at least learn about the founding of the country, and some of the ideals and institutions, but at the same time I can see how passing or not passing those questions shouldn’t necessarily make or break your citizenship,” Hartman said.

Of those people who were naturalized, 6,606 in North Carolina became citizens in 2007, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Web site.

“There are so many things that make up this country other than just these factual questions, there’s a lot more to being an American than just what’s in a book, and there’s a lot more about culture and trying to assimilate into different practices,” Hartman said.

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