I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1386 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the automatic 

acquisition of citizenship for certain children born outside the United 

States to a parent who is or becomes a United States citizen, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2023 

Ms. CLARKE of New York (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

ESPAILLAT, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. 

BOWMAN, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. JACOBS, 

Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. CASAR, Ms. MENG, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 

TRONE, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Mr. IVEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide 

for the automatic acquisition of citizenship for certain 

children born outside the United States to a parent 

who is or becomes a United States citizen, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Citizenship for 

5 Children Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP FOR 

2 CERTAIN CHILDREN BORN OUTSIDE THE 

3 UNITED STATES. 

4 Section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

5 (8 U.S.C. 1431) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

8 by striking ‘‘all of the following conditions’’ and 

9 inserting ‘‘each of the following applicable con10 ditions’’; 

11 (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 

12 follows: 

13 ‘‘(2) If the parent is a naturalized citizen, the 

14 child is under the age of eighteen years at the time 

15 of the parent’s naturalization.’’; and 

16 (C) in paragraph (3)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘The child is residing’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘While under the age of 

19 eighteen, the child resides’’; 

20 (ii) by striking ‘‘legal and physical 

21 custody’’ and inserting ‘‘legal custody’’; 

22 and 

23 (iii) by inserting before the period at 

24 the end the following: ‘‘, or a pending ap25 plication to adjust status to lawful perma26 nent resident’’; and 


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1 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

3 term ‘child’ has the meaning given such term in section 

4 101(c), except that such term includes the nonmarital 

5 child of a legal custodial citizen father, and the child of 

6 a United States citizen parent if the parent-child relation7 ship satisfies the parentage laws of the child’s or parent’s 

8 residence or domicile, whether in the United States or 

9 elsewhere. 

10 ‘‘(f) CLARIFICATIONS.—Any provision of law (includ11 ing section 301(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

12 (as in effect before October 10, 1978), and the provisos 

13 of section 201(g) of the Nationality Act of 1940) that pro14 vide for a person’s loss of citizenship if the person failed 

15 to come to, or reside or be physically present in, the 

16 United States shall not apply in the case of a person 

17 claiming United States citizenship based on such person’s 

18 descent from an individual described in this section. Any 

19 provision of law (including sections 301 and 309 of the 

20 Immigration and Nationality Act, and the provisos of 

21 201(g) and 205 the Nationality Act of 1940) that require 

22 the citizen parent to reside in the United States for a 

23 number of years shall be deemed satisfied by subsection 

24 (a)(3). 


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1 ‘‘(g) RETROACTIVE APPLICATION.—This section, as 

2 amended by the Equal Citizenship for Children Act of 

3 2023 shall be applied to persons born after noon (Eastern 

4 Standard Time), January 9, 1941, as though this section, 

5 as amended, had been in effect on the date of their birth, 

6 except that the retroactive application described in this 

7 subsection shall not affect the validity of citizenship of 

8 anyone who has obtained citizenship under any other pro9 vision of law.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. CHILDREN BORN AND RESIDING OUTSIDE THE 

11 UNITED STATES. 

12 Section 322 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

13 (8 U.S.C. 1433) is amended by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

16 term ‘child’ has the meaning given such term in section 

17 320.’’. 

Æ 


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