Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021

II 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 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S967.IS S967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 967 IS ‘‘(b) ADOPTED CHILDREN OF CITIZEN PARENT.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall apply 2 to a child adopted by a United States citizen parent 3 if the child satisfies the requirements applicable to 4 adopted children under subparagraph (E), (F), or 5 (G) of section 101(b)(1), regardless of the date on 6 which the adoption was finalized. 7 ‘‘(2) LIMITED APPLICATION TO CERTAIN 8 ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING IN THE UNITED 9 STATES.—Notwithstanding section 318, an indi- 10 vidual born outside of the United States who was 11 adopted by a United States citizen parent shall auto- 12 matically become a citizen of the United States when 13 all of the following conditions have been fulfilled: 14 ‘‘(A) The individual was adopted by a 15 United States citizen before the individual 16 reached 18 years of age. 17 ‘‘(B) The individual was physically present 18 in the United States in the legal custody of the 19 citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission 20 before the individual reached 18 years of age. 21 ‘‘(C) The individual never acquired United 22 States citizenship before the date of the enact- 23 ment of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S967.IS S967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 967 IS ‘‘(D) The individual was residing in the 1 United States on the date of the enactment of 2 the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 pursuant 3 to a lawful admission. 4 ‘‘(3) LIMITED APPLICATION TO CERTAIN 5 ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING OUTSIDE OF THE 6 UNITED STATES.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any individual who 8 meets all of the criteria described in subpara- 9 graphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (2), but 10 does not meet the requirement described in sub- 11 paragraph (D) of such paragraph, shall auto- 12 matically become a citizen of the United States 13 on the date on which the individual is physically 14 present in the United States pursuant to a law- 15 ful admission. 16 ‘‘(B) INAPPLICABILITY OF GROUNDS OF 17 INADMISSIBILITY.—The grounds of inadmis- 18 sibility set forth in section 212(a) shall not 19 apply to any individual described in subpara- 20 graph (A) who is seeking admission to the 21 United States. 22 ‘‘(C) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK.— 23 Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B), 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S967.IS S967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 967 IS an individual described in subparagraph (A) 1 may not be issued a visa unless— 2 ‘‘(i) the individual was subjected to a 3 criminal background check; and 4 ‘‘(ii) if the background check con- 5 ducted pursuant to clause (i) reveals that 6 the individual has committed a crime that 7 was not properly resolved, the Secretary of 8 Homeland Security and the Secretary of 9 State coordinated with relevant law en- 10 forcement agencies to ensure that appro- 11 priate action is taken to resolve such crimi- 12 nal activity.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:03 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S967.IS S967 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS