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EXCLUSIVE: New Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow is wasting no time shaking up the path to American citizenship.
Just weeks into the job, he’s calling for a major overhaul of the U.S. naturalization test — blasting the current version as too soft and out of step with what Congress envisioned.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Edlow said the civics and English exam, which forms the backbone of the naturalization process, fails to reflect the knowledge and assimilation he believes should be required to become an American.
“The test needs to reflect the letter and the spirit of what Congress intended,” Edlow said. “It’s important for people to understand English, our history, our government… and the way the test is written and executed right now doesn’t meet that bar.”
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Under the current format, naturalization applicants must correctly answer six out of 10 civics questions randomly selected from a list of 100, covering topics like the Constitution, U.S. history, geography and civic responsibilities. They must also read one sentence aloud and write one simple sentence correctly in English.
Edlow says that’s not enough. He wants the test to probe deeper — presenting a broader cross-section of U.S. principles — and for English skills to be evaluated throughout the entire naturalization interview, not just in isolated reading and writing exercises.
“I want adjudicators to really be listening and talking throughout the interview,” he said. “Switch up some of the wording… and see if the individuals are still able to comprehend the questions. That’s a better gauge of readiness.”
Edlow said the test must preserve the integrity of the process and reflect assimilation expectations. He also pointed to a recent executive order declaring English the national language, calling language fluency “an imperative part” of the American dream.
The director also took aim at long-standing flaws in the H-1B visa system, which permits U.S. companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers in specialty fields.
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“Companies are going for the highest-skilled workers but paying them at the lowest wage level,” he said. “That’s undercutting U.S. graduates, especially in STEM fields.”
He cited cases when third-party contracting firms helped employers lay off American workers — sometimes even requiring them to train their own foreign replacements — as evidence of a program being exploited to suppress wages.
Vice President JD Vance has echoed a similar sentiment. In July, he called out Microsoft for laying off around 9,000 American workers while applying for 4,700 H1-B visas. “I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a bulls— story.”
The visa program has emerged as a political flashpoint within the GOP, creating a rift between MAGA populists and pro-business conservatives.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he’d “go to war” in support of the H1-B visa program and branded its Republican opponents “hateful, unrepentant racists.”
To tighten oversight of the program, Edlow said USCIS will work with the Department of Labor to expand worksite enforcement and ensure that wages and job functions match what’s on paper.
“We want to make sure those brought over are truly commensurate with the roles they’re filling — and not part of a cost-cutting scheme,” he added.
On the issue of welfare-related immigration policy, Edlow said USCIS is preparing to revisit the public charge rule — a legal standard that bars green cards for applicants likely to become reliant on public assistance.
The rule has existed in some form for over a century but was more strictly interpreted during the Trump administration to include certain non-cash benefits like Medicaid or housing aid. The Biden administration returned to guidance that did not take non-cash benefits into account.
Edlow said changes would take time.
“It’s something we’ve got to study and get right,” he said. “We need to look at the means-tested benefits being offered and ensure our adjudicators know what to look for to determine if someone would be a burden on U.S. taxpayers.”
Beyond policy changes, Edlow flagged the growing USCIS case backlog as a top operational threat — one he says now carries national security implications.
“Backlogs that continue to grow are nothing short of a national security threat to this country,” he said, blaming the Biden administration for shifting agency resources away from legal immigration priorities in response to record-breaking illegal border crossings.
While he pledged to reduce adjudication times, Edlow warned that shortcuts won’t be part of the strategy.
“There may be short-term pain,” he said. “But we will decrease the backlog at a steady clip while protecting the integrity and security of the system.”
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