What Is the Name of the Speaker of the House Now? Civics Question 30

The answer is the name of whoever holds the job on your interview day, and USCIS publishes it at uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates.

Question 30 asks for the current Speaker of the House of Representatives. The answer changes, so USCIS publishes it at uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates. Check that page and use the name you find there. This is a starred question, so it can also appear on the shorter test for applicants who are 65 or older.

Why the Answer Changes

The House picks its own Speaker. It votes on one at the start of every new Congress, which is every two years, and it can replace the Speaker in between.

A name printed in a book goes stale the moment the job changes hands. USCIS keeps the changing answers on one page of its own site and updates them there.

Where the Current Answer Lives

Go to uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates. The answers that change are listed there, this one included.

Check it twice. Once when you start studying, so you can practice saying a real name, and once in the week before your interview, so you catch any change.

What the Speaker Does

The Speaker leads the House of Representatives and has a large say in what the House votes on and when.

The Speaker is also a member of the House, elected first by the voters of one district like every other member. The Speaker sits second in line to the presidency, behind the Vice President.

How to Remember a Name That Changes

Build a checking habit rather than memorizing a name early and trusting it.

Put a reminder on your phone for the week of your interview with one instruction: open uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates. Read the name out loud, then say it again at three points during the day. Practice the last name hardest, because that is the part that has to come out under pressure.

Four questions on the test work this way. The President, the Vice President, the Speaker and the Chief Justice of the United States all change, and one visit to that page refreshes all four. Learn the page, not the person.

What to Say on Test Day

Say the first and last name you found on the USCIS updates page, then stop.

You do not need to say the word Speaker, name a party, or name a state. The officer is listening for a name and nothing attached to it.