I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1593 To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 3, 2021 Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizen- ship for certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Adoptee Citizenship 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN INTER- 6 NATIONALLY ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS. 7 Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 8 Act (8 U.S.C. 1431(b)) is amended to read as follows: 9 ‘‘(b) ADOPTED CHILDREN OF CITIZEN PARENT.— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1593.IH H1593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1593 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall apply 1 to a child adopted by a United States citizen parent 2 if the child satisfies the requirements applicable to 3 adopted children under subparagraph (E), (F), or 4 (G) of section 101(b)(1), regardless of the date on 5 which the adoption was finalized. 6 ‘‘(2) LIMITED APPLICATION TO CERTAIN 7 ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING IN THE UNITED 8 STATES.—Notwithstanding section 318, an indi- 9 vidual born outside of the United States who was 10 adopted by a United States citizen parent shall auto- 11 matically become a citizen of the United States when 12 all of the following conditions have been fulfilled: 13 ‘‘(A) The individual was adopted by a 14 United States citizen before the individual 15 reached 18 years of age. 16 ‘‘(B) The individual was physically present 17 in the United States in the legal custody of the 18 citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission 19 before the individual reached 18 years of age. 20 ‘‘(C) The individual never acquired United 21 States citizenship before the date of the enact- 22 ment of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021. 23 ‘‘(D) The individual was residing in the 24 United States on the date of the enactment of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1593.IH H1593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1593 IH the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 pursuant 1 to a lawful admission. 2 ‘‘(3) LIMITED APPLICATION TO CERTAIN 3 ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING OUTSIDE OF THE 4 UNITED STATES.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual who 6 meets all of the criteria described in paragraph 7 (2) except for subparagraph (D) shall automati- 8 cally become a citizen of the United States on 9 the date on which the individual is physically 10 present in the United States pursuant to a law- 11 ful admission. 12 ‘‘(B) INAPPLICABILITY OF GROUNDS OF 13 INADMISSIBILITY.—The grounds of inadmis- 14 sibility set forth in section 212(a) shall not 15 apply to an individual described in subpara- 16 graph (A) who is seeking admission to the 17 United States. 18 ‘‘(C) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK.— 19 Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B), 20 an individual described in subparagraph (A) 21 may not be issued a visa unless— 22 ‘‘(i) the individual was subjected to a 23 criminal background check; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1593.IH H1593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1593 IH ‘‘(ii) if the background check con- 1 ducted pursuant to clause (i) reveals that 2 the individual has committed a crime that 3 was not properly resolved, the Secretary of 4 Homeland Security and the Secretary of 5 State coordinated with relevant law en- 6 forcement agencies to ensure that appro- 7 priate action is taken to resolve such crimi- 8 nal activity.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1593.IH H1593 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS