On Oct. 1, USCIS began using digital tablets to administer the English reading and writing tests during naturalization interviews as part of the agency’s ongoing modernization efforts. Although USCIS applicants already use digital tablets to sign or verify parts of their applications, this new approach expands the use of tablets, allowing the device to be used for a greater amount of the application process. USCIS will be able to carry on in using the paper process on a case-by-case basis.

Although the eligibility requirements and the subject material of the naturalization test have not changed, applicants are now using a stylus on a digital tablet in place of a paper application. Immigration Services Officers (ISO) will carefully instruct applicants on how to use the tablets before giving the tests:

For the reading test, a sentence will appear on the tablet and the ISO will ask the applicant to read it.

For the writing test, several lines will appear on the tablet, replicating the appearance of a piece of blank paper. The ISO will read a sentence aloud and ask the applicant to write it on the tablet.

Applicants will continue to take the civics test verbally, without the tablet.