N-400 interview
Prepare for Your N-400 Naturalization Interview
Form N-400 is the application for naturalization. The interview is where a USCIS officer reviews that application, checks English, and gives the civics test. This page explains the pieces. It does not tell you how to answer your own form.
Content last reviewed November 3, 2026. Not legal advice.
What is Form N-400?
Form N-400 is the Application for Naturalization. It asks about your identity, residence, travel, family, and background. The officer at your interview can ask you about the answers you already gave. Citizen Prep US does not fill out the form, check eligibility, or tell you what to write.
What happens during the interview?
You are placed under oath. The officer goes through your application, and — unless an English exemption applies — checks speaking, reading, and writing. Speaking is usually judged from the conversation about your N-400. Reading and writing use USCIS word lists. Civics is a separate oral test from the published question bank. Bring what your interview notice lists. The official description is on the USCIS interview page.
Civics test versus the N-400 interview
Civics questions have published answers. N-400 questions are about your life. Studying civics does not prepare the facts of your application, and vocabulary practice does not mean an answer is the right one for you. If a question on the form is legally complicated, talk with an accredited representative or an immigration attorney.
How the app helps with words
The app includes a vocabulary set for terms that show up on Form N-400 and in the interview. The goal is recognition: you hear “continuous residence” or “oath of allegiance” and know what the words mean. It is not an evaluation of your eligibility.
Interview vocabulary
Short definitions for study. They are not instructions for how to answer yes-or-no questions on your application.
- Lawful permanent resident
- A person allowed to live and work in the United States permanently, often called a green card holder.
- Oath of Allegiance
- The promise of loyalty to the United States that new citizens take.
- Good moral character
- The standard USCIS uses when it reviews conduct during the period the law requires.
- Continuous residence
- Living in the United States as a permanent resident for the required period, with limited breaks.
- Physical presence
- The actual days you were inside the United States, which is counted separately from residence.
- Selective Service
- The registration system for most men living in the United States between certain ages.
- Bear arms
- To carry or use weapons as part of military service, a phrase that appears in the oath questions.
- Noncombatant
- A military role that does not include fighting.
- Title of nobility
- A hereditary title such as king, prince, or duke. The form asks whether you have held one.
- Cited
- Ordered to appear in court. Different from being arrested.
- Detained
- Held in custody by police or another authority.
- Claim
- To say you are a U.S. citizen, or to say you are entitled to something. The form uses the word in specific questions.
- File a tax return
- To send the required income-tax forms to the government.
- Dependent
- A person you support, often a child, who may be listed on tax forms.
- Overthrow
- To remove a government by force.
- Persecute
- To harm someone because of race, religion, or another protected ground.
- Totalitarian
- A system in which the state controls almost all of public life.
- Communist Party
- A political party named on Form N-400. The question is about membership or affiliation, not a civics definition you recite.
- Genocide
- Acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
- Militia
- A military force made up of civilians, a word that appears in both history questions and the N-400.