Citizenship · General

The officer dictates a sentence containing 'United States.' How should it be written?

Correct answer

United States — both words capitalized, as it is the proper name of the country (United States or United States of America)

  1. A united states
  2. B United States — both words capitalized, as it is the proper name of the country (United States or United States of America)
  3. C United states
  4. D united States

Why this is the answer

UNITED STATES — BOTH words are capitalized because it is the proper name of the country. UNITED (U-N-I-T-E-D), STATES (S-T-A-T-E-S). It may also appear as 'United States of America.' The USCIS writing test requires correct capitalization of proper nouns, including country names. Errors to avoid: lowercasing either word ('united states,' 'United states,' 'united States'). 'United States' is among the most common terms on the citizenship test and must be capitalized correctly.
Source: USCIS Writing Test — United States