Citizenship tests

[Lisa Denton]

Sad to say but until Lisa made that post I had never heard of Angel Island.

All I done was google "China citizenship" and that was one on the first page. There was lots of links and stuff that I didn't follow.

 

[zeb1094]

Or you're in an airplane that crashes in a field on the state line between Ohio and Pennsylvania, where do they bury the survivors?

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Or you're in an airplane that crashes in a field on the state line between Ohio and Pennsylvania, where do they bury the survivors?

Hopefully nowhere!

 

[zeb1094]

Hopefully nowhere!

The correct answer!

You would be surprized at the answers you get from intelligent people.

 

[oggbashan]

UK test

Sample test

I wasn't too impressed with the Australian test of the 1940s and 50s - the infamous language test. Any prospective immigrant had to pass a language test.

If the applicant was considered undesirable i.e. non-white the test would be in an obscure language such as Welsh or Gaelic. If white, an appropriate European language would be used i.e. Italian for Italians, Greek for Greeks.

It was an undeclared White Australia policy.

Og

 

[MissBri]

 

[Svenskaflicka]

The correct answer!

You would be surprized at the answers you get from intelligent people.

In Sweden, there was one guy at a ski resort who told people that he and the other bird watchers had seen a gadus morrhua up on the mountains. People happily cooed and pretended to know what the heck he was talking about. Some even said "really, how unusual!" or ""that's something you don't see every day" or, my fave, "that's nothing, I saw THREE of them yesterday!"

Gadus morrhua, mind you, is the latin name for Cod...

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ogg and M.Jett. I took the test and feel good about the score, only missed those like the 999 question:

You got 9 right!
0-5: Seat in Heathrow arrivals
6-10: Seat on the district council
11-13: Seat in Parliament
14: Seat on the throne

Well, I already know I won't have enough of a pension to meet retirement income requirements in the UK. But I'll be able to visit longer, yea!

Perdita

 

[MissBri]

 

[Lisa Denton]

Sample test

I wasn't too impressed with the Australian test of the 1940s and 50s - the infamous language test. Any prospective immigrant had to pass a language test.

If the applicant was considered undesirable i.e. non-white the test would be in an obscure language such as Welsh or Gaelic. If white, an appropriate European language would be used i.e. Italian for Italians, Greek for Greeks.

It was an undeclared White Australia policy.

Og

Hi og.

I thought they would give the test in australian........................................

G'day mate.

 

[Lisa Denton]

In Sweden, there was one guy at a ski resort who told people that he and the other bird watchers had seen a gadus morrhua up on the mountains. People happily cooed and pretended to know what the heck he was talking about. Some even said "really, how unusual!" or ""that's something you don't see every day" or, my fave, "that's nothing, I saw THREE of them yesterday!"

Gadus morrhua, mind you, is the latin name for Cod...

I am amazed who all will falll for the famous "side-lances". Which, of course, is a type of goat who has the two legs on one side shorter than the two legs on the other side. Since they are always livin on the steep mountain-top areas which they are indigenous to, this enables them to be level for most of the time, naturally.

Said with a straight face, most peoples will believe it until they start wondering what the goat does when he turns around to walk the other way.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I am amazed who all will falll for the famous "side-lances". Which, of course, is a type of goat who has the two legs on one side shorter than the two legs on the other side. Since they are always livin on the steep mountain-top areas which they are indigenous to, this enables them to be level for most of the time, naturally.

Said with a straight face, most peoples will believe it until they start wondering what the goat does when he turns around to walk the other way.

LOL! I gotta try that one on people - problem is, I can NEVER keep a straight face!

Reminds me of a riddle I heard on TV: you've got two coins. One of them is NOT a quarter. Together, they're worth 30 cents. What are the coins?

 

[Munachi]

often it's enough just to ask what cows drink, though.

 

[Just-Legal]

LOL! I gotta try that one on people - problem is, I can NEVER keep a straight face!

Reminds me of a riddle I heard on TV: you've got two coins. One of them is NOT a quarter. Together, they're worth 30 cents. What are the coins?

A quarter and a 5c peice? Because only ONE of them isn't a quarter.

 

[SeaCat]

It's scary, I have a copy of the test my mother had to take when she went for her citizenship in the United States. What they asked on that test is not taught in our schools.

Questions like who were the first five presidents of the Untied States.

What are the three branches of the Federal Government and why were they created?

Recite the Pledge of Allegance.

What is the Constitution?

This test took two days and was conducted solely in English.

She also had to have a background check, quite extensive.She had to have proof of employment, or proof of employment of her spouse. She could have no criminal record here in the United States. She had to have a sponsor. (In this case my father, to whom she was married.)

Cat

p.s. this was in 1956

 

[Huckleman2000]

The German test has been on the news a lot lately, there is quite a bit of protest against it, some people support it though.

I don't know the matter well enough to say I am completely against the test, but the example questions show the problem (which has been named here before) - what if there is something asked that wouldn't even be the case for people born in the country?

I am by no means trying to defend any homophobe tendencies, please don't think that, but if you go to some small village in, say, Bavaria, or Mecklemburg, and a son comes home and tells their (german) parents he is homosexual their reaction won't be much better than that of strict muslim parents. And no one would throw those Germans out.

Another thing is, it's easy to learn what you are expected to answer, without really thinking so. So what is really being tested there?

I guess we are a bit at a conflict here, because for ages, being German has been associated with blood. Germany is one of the countries where citizenship depends a lot on whether your parents are German. But with the changes in the world this concept works less and less. So I guess a new Germanness is sought for. But for me the whole idea of nation is becoming more and more outdated, but okay, that is going to far, I guess.

But anyway, I don't think someone's thinking should determine their right to stay here - getting in conflict with the law, maybe. At the moment that they do. And I have problems with seperating immigrants into "good foreigners" and "bad foreigners" by putting up this kind of questions - saying the most adapted ones are the good ones and only those who think like we do have a right to stay here.

Of course, I don't agree with muslim parents kicking their gay son out of the house, or worse - but I also don't see how such a test would actually change that. As I said, you can't even check if they say the truth on such a test. If I had to take it, and knew what answers might decide about my residence permit, but think differently, I'd lie...

I would imagine that you're right about 'getting in conflict with the law'. Perhaps if the parents abandoned their minor (non-adult) gay son, they could be legally liable for charges of endangerment. In that sense, highlighting the points where cultural or religious traditions conflict with the laws of the country does not seem to be an unreasonable burden to place on those applying for citizenship.

As for the 'spilling a beer' question, maybe that stems from the discovery by immigrants, from countries where women are not allowed in drinking establishments, of the "Oops, I spilled something on your chest!" ploy? Wouldn't want those damn immigrants to ruin a perfectly good way to cop a feel!

 

[Svenskaflicka]

A quarter and a 5c peice? Because only ONE of them isn't a quarter.

Almost right. A nickel and a quarter, not a quarter and a nickel.

You saw that episode of "Scrubs", too, didn't ya?

 

[Guest]

It's scary, I have a copy of the test my mother had to take when she went for her citizenship in the United States. What they asked on that test is not taught in our schools.

Questions like who were the first five presidents of the Untied States.
What are the three branches of the Federal Government and why were they created?
Recite the Pledge of Allegance.
What is the Constitution?

This test took two days and was conducted solely in English.

She also had to have a background check, quite extensive.She had to have proof of employment, or proof of employment of her spouse. She could have no criminal record here in the United States. She had to have a sponsor. (In this case my father, to whom she was married.)

Cat

p.s. this was in 1956

Cat, it was taught when I was in school (grammar through h.s.). They seem good questions for this test except the pledge and names of presidents which is simply memorization. Thanks for the reply.

Perdita

 

[SeaCat]

Cat, it was taught when I was in school (grammar through h.s.). They seem good questions for this test except the pledge and names of presidents which is simply memorization. Thanks for the reply.

Perdita

It was taught when I was in school as well, and I didn't graduate that long ago. (Okay 20 years ago.) The problem is, now you rarely hear these things taught in school.

Then again they don't teach how to do simple math or a basic knowledge of grammer.

Cat