From March 15, 2010 on, the Canadian citizenship test is based on a new study guide: ‘Discover Canada”. Compared with the old study guide ‘A Look at Canada’, it is a more comprehensive document. If you have studied the old book but now you are required to take the new test, here is a list of the new content that you should pay attention to:

1. More details about the Canadian history. It has a section of more than 10 pages about the history of Canada and 4 pages about Modern Canada. It describes the Aboriginal peoples, British and French as the founding people of Canada. Canada’s role in two world wars is detailed. Many histroic people are introduced so you may have more names to remember before sitting for the test. It is interesting to see that the study guide admits the historic wrongdoings of the Canadian government, such as the “Head Tax”, wartime wrongs inflicted on Japanese and education of Aboriginal children.

2. There are wording changes about the Canadian government, though the concepts are mainly the same. In the old book, it states Canada’s government has a system of parliamentary government. It is now in the new book as “a federal state, a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy.”

3. The concept of Sovereign is emphasized in the new book. A bill must be finally approved by ‘royal assent’.

4. The section about federal election is mostly unchanged except for the election cycle. In 2007, new laws passed to force a general election at least every 4 years and has a fixed date. The new book reflects this lastest change in legislation.

5. Justice System is the new content not seen in the old book, so you must know about it.

6. Canada Regions are now in more details. The new book covers each province/territory separately. Therefore, you must know at least the region you are in.

7. Canadian symbols now include “Coat of Arm and Motto”, honours to Canadians, sports and holidays.

If you are preparing for the Canadian citizenship test after March 15, 2010, you can use a good online practice web site which provides practice questions of the New Canadian Citizenship Test.

Related Links:
US Citizenship Application for people to apply for their American citizenship and prepare for the US Citizenship Test.

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Last year, the USCIS( United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) had changed the US citizenship test format. This citizenship test is part of the naturalization process for immigrants to get their American citizenship.

The test usually contains two parts. The first part is a test of English skill, which includes reading, writing and speaking English. The second part is the civics test, which a USCIS officer asks the applicant 10 questions about the United States. The applicant must answer at least six questions in order to pass this interview exam.

In the new citizenship test, there are 100 possible questions which the USCIS officer may ask. So it is very important that the citizenship applicants practise enough before going for the interview. One of the best citizenship web sites provides a free online citizenship test practcing system. This practice system randomly generates 5-50 questions. It provides very good practice for people to get familiar with the test format and background knowledge.

This web site also provide excellent products such as DIY US citizenship application kit and American immigration application kits for family class. If you understand English, you probably need only these application kits to apply for your citizenship, or help your family members to reside in the United States.

Other Links:
US Citizenship Application and Test Questions
Canadian Citizenship Test Questions
UK Citizenship Online Test
Free Online Canada Citizenship Test
New Citizenship Test Questions of Australia
Life in the UK: British Citizenship Test
US American Citizenship Practice Test
US Citizenship Application Package

Recently, some Canadian friends asked me how to apply for their citizenship in Canada. Here are the advices I gave them:

For one to apply for the Canadian citizenship, there are some basic requirements:

1) be a landed immigrant(permanent resident ) in Canada;
2) be 18 years of age or older at the time of application submission;
3) have resided in Canada for a total of three years out of the four years on the day before you apply. You may count half of the time for the time you resided in Canada before you became a PR. The time you resided in Canada after you became a permanent resident counts as full time;
4) know enough English or French for a simple conversation; and
5) know enough about Canada’s geography, politics, history, and the rights and responsibilities of a citizenship to pass a test.

If all the above requirements are meet, one can pay the citizenship fees which are $200.00 in total. The fees can be paid at most financial institutions such as a bank. After that, send the application to the CIC case processing center. Things to send in:

a) Receipt of payment of citizienship fees;
b) Completed application form;
c) Two photos taken within the last 12 months.
d) Supporting document such as Permanent Resident Card(Maple Card) and two personal IDs.

Canada Citizenship Test on iphone ipod
Free Online Canada Citizenship Test
Canadian Citizenship Application and Test
New Citizenship Test Questions of Australia
Life in the UK: British Citizenship Test
Online American Citizenship Test
US Citizenship Application

After a few weeks’ hard work, I finally came up with an Online Practice for the Canadian Citizenship Test. Many of my friends are Canadians and they find my online practice system very interesting and helpful.

This online system has a database of more than 120 practice questions. What makes it different from other systems is that it contains province-specific questions. For example, for citizenship applicants in Ontario, the questions will be like “What is the Premier of Ontario?”. This system can also keep track of practicing time and give a score based on the number of correct answers. After the test taker finishes a practice test, he/she can re-do the test for more practice.

So far, more than 400 daily visitors use this online practice system. I am very happy with it and will continue to work on it for improvement. More on Canadian Citizenship Practice Exam .

After a multi-year process, the USCIS has finally finished a redesign of the citizenship test, or the naturalization test. This test is usually taken by people who apply for the U.S. Citizenship. The redesigned test put more focus on the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the fundamental understandings of American democracy. It encourages citizenship applicants to identify the basic values shared by Americans.

I took a look at those new sample questions of the test. I don’t think there is much change in the questions and the probably won’t make much difference for applicants.

Starting from Oct 1, 2008, the new test will be used. So applicants must get to know whether they are going to take the new or old test.

Every year, many people obtain their citizenship of United States through the naturalization application process. If you want to go through the process of Naturalization for US citizen, a good place to start naturalization is the US Citizenship Application web site.

Before you get approved for the US citizenship, you need to have an interview with the citizenship officer. To prepare for the USA citizenship test or interview is not a simple task, you need to get familiar with American Citizenship Test questions, mostly about US government, history, geography and culture. I recommend you use some free citizenship practice test software.