Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021
This bill provides for the automatic acquisition of citizenship for certain individuals adopted by a U.S. citizen.
A child born outside the United States and adopted by a U.S. citizen shall automatically acquire citizenship upon meeting certain requirements, regardless of when the adoption was finalized. Currently, adoptees who were over the age of 18 on February 27, 2001, do not automatically acquire citizenship.
An individual born outside the United States and residing in the United States shall automatically acquire citizenship if the individual (1) was adopted by a citizen before becoming 18 years old, (2) was physically present in the United States in the citizen parent's custody pursuant to lawful admission before becoming 18 years old, (3) never acquired citizenship before this bill's enactment, and (4) was lawfully residing in the United States on this bill's enactment date.
An individual born outside the United States and residing outside the United States but who otherwise meets all of the requirements shall automatically acquire citizenship upon being physically present in the United States pursuant to lawful admission. Such an individual shall be subject to a background check. If the background check reveals the individual has committed a crime that was not properly resolved, the individual may not receive a visa unless the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State have coordinated with law enforcement to ensure that action was taken to resolve the issue.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 967 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 967
To provide for the automatic acquisition of United States citizenship
for certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 25, 2021
Mr. Blunt (for himself, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Collins, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms.
Murkowski, and Ms. Duckworth) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the automatic acquisition of United States citizenship
for certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED
INDIVIDUALS.
Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1431(b)) is amended to read as follows:
``(b) Adopted Children of Citizen Parent.--
``(1) In general.--Subsection (a) shall apply to a child
adopted by a United States citizen parent if the child
satisfies the requirements applicable to adopted children under
subparagraph (E), (F), or (G) of section 101(b)(1), regardless
of the date on which the adoption was finalized.
``(2) Limited application to certain adopted individuals
residing in the united states.--Notwithstanding section 318, an
individual born outside of the United States who was adopted by
a United States citizen parent shall automatically become a
citizen of the United States when all of the following
conditions have been fulfilled:
``(A) The individual was adopted by a United States
citizen before the individual reached 18 years of age.
``(B) The individual was physically present in the
United States in the legal custody of the citizen
parent pursuant to a lawful admission before the
individual reached 18 years of age.
``(C) The individual never acquired United States
citizenship before the date of the enactment of the
Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021.
``(D) The individual was residing in the United
States on the date of the enactment of the Adoptee
Citizenship Act of 2021 pursuant to a lawful admission.
``(3) Limited application to certain adopted individuals
residing outside of the united states.--
``(A) In general.--Any individual who meets all of
the criteria described in subparagraphs (A) through (C)
of paragraph (2), but does not meet the requirement
described in subparagraph (D) of such paragraph, shall
automatically become a citizen of the United States on
the date on which the individual is physically present
in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission.
``(B) Inapplicability of grounds of
inadmissibility.--The grounds of inadmissibility set
forth in section 212(a) shall not apply to any
individual described in subparagraph (A) who is seeking
admission to the United States.
``(C) Criminal background check.--Notwithstanding
subparagraphs (A) and (B), an individual described in
subparagraph (A) may not be issued a visa unless--
``(i) the individual was subjected to a
criminal background check; and
``(ii) if the background check conducted
pursuant to clause (i) reveals that the
individual has committed a crime that was not
properly resolved, the Secretary of Homeland
Security and the Secretary of State coordinated
with relevant law enforcement agencies to
ensure that appropriate action is taken to
resolve such criminal activity.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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