President. one provision of the Housepassed version of this bill has not been included in the substitute amendment due to concerns expressed by Mr. SIMPSON. This provision would have exempted a small number of lawful permanent residents from the history and government knowledge tests currently required of all applicants for naturalization under Section 312 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. due to their physical disability. or age and longterm lawful permanent residence in the U.S. The persons sought to be included in this exemption were lawful permanent residents over 50 years of age who have been permanent residents for at least 20 years. persons over 55 years of age with at least 15 years of permanent resident status in the U.S.. and persons of any age who are "physically unable" to pass the test. The provision would have brought the requirements of the history and government knowledge tests into conformity with requirements of current law relating to knowledge of the English language. Mr. President. I believe that all reasonable measures should be taken to encourage naturalization of productive and lawabiding permanent residents. Therefore. while I accede to Mr. SIMPSONS request to not include this provision in the substitute amendment. I wish to emphasize that Section 312 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. as currently in force. requires that applicants for naturalization demonstrate a basic understanding of the fundamentals of American history and our system of government. I am informed that the Immigration and Naturalization Service at times erroneously requires that applicants. including older. longterm permanent residents. demonstrate a sophisticated knowledge of these areas. This practice can only work to arbitrarily exclude deserving applicants from full participation in U.S. society. and therefore should. in my view. be discontinued.
Keywords matched
naturalization Naturalization Immigration