II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1359 

To provide United States citizenship for children adopted from outside the 

United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2009 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide United States citizenship for children adopted 

from outside the United States, 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 ‘‘Foreign Adopted Chil5 dren Equality Act’’ or the ‘‘FACE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CITIZENSHIP FOR CHILDREN ADOPTED FROM OUT7 SIDE THE UNITED STATES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 320(b) of the Immigra9 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431(b)) is amended 

10 to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(b) CITIZENSHIP FOR CHILDREN ADOPTED FROM

2 OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A child born outside the 

4 United States automatically becomes a citizen of the 

5 United States if the Secretary of State is satisfied 

6 that all of the following conditions are met: 

7 ‘‘(A) The child is adopted by a parent who 

8 is a citizen of the United States. 

9 ‘‘(B) The child is younger than 18 years of 

10 age. 

11 ‘‘(C) It is determined that each adopting 

12 parent is eligible and suitable to adopt the 

13 child, including determining that the parent is 

14 able to support the child and has undergone an 

15 appropriate criminal background check. 

16 ‘‘(D) Prior to the adoption, the child was 

17 an unmarried individual younger than 18 years 

18 of age— 

19 ‘‘(i)(I) whose biological parents (or 

20 parent, in the case of an individual who 

21 has 1 sole or surviving parent) or other 

22 person or institution that retains legal cus23 tody of the individual— 

24 ‘‘(aa) have freely given their writ25 ten irrevocable consent to the termiVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:19 Jun 26, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1359.IS S1359

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1 nation of their legal relationship with 

2 the individual, and to the individual’s 

3 emigration and adoption and that 

4 such consent has not been induced by 

5 payment or compensation of any kind 

6 and has not been given prior to the 

7 birth of the individual; 

8 ‘‘(bb) are unable to provide prop9 er care for the individual, as deter10 mined by the competent authority of 

11 the individual’s residence; or 

12 ‘‘(cc) have voluntarily relin13 quished the individual to the com14 petent authorities pursuant to the law 

15 of the individual’s residence; or 

16 ‘‘(II) who, as determined by the com17 petent authority of the individual’s resi18 dence— 

19 ‘‘(aa) has been abandoned or de20 serted by the individual’s biological 

21 parents or legal guardian; or 

22 ‘‘(bb) has been orphaned due to 

23 the death or disappearance of the in24 dividual’s biological parents or legal 

25 guardian; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) with respect to whom the Sec2 retary of State— 

3 ‘‘(I) is satisfied that the proper 

4 care will be furnished the individual if 

5 admitted to the United States; 

6 ‘‘(II) is satisfied that the purpose 

7 of the adoption is to form a bona fide 

8 parent-child relationship and that the 

9 parent-child relationship of the indi10 vidual and the biological parents has 

11 been terminated (and in carrying out 

12 both obligations under this subpara13 graph, the Secretary of State, in con14 sultation with the Secretary of Home15 land Security, may consider whether 

16 there is a petition pending to confer 

17 immigrant status on 1 or both of the 

18 biological parents); 

19 ‘‘(III) is satisfied that there has 

20 been no inducement, financial or oth21 erwise, offered to obtain the consent 

22 nor was it given before the birth of 

23 the individual; and 

24 ‘‘(IV) in consultation with the 

25 Secretary of Homeland Security, is 


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1 satisfied that the individual is not a 

2 security risk. 

3 ‘‘(2) CITIZENSHIP FROM BIRTH.—An individual 

4 who becomes a citizen of the United States pursuant 

5 to paragraph (1) shall be deemed to have been a cit6 izen of the United States at birth and shall be 

7 issued a United States Consular Report of Birth. 

8 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULE FOR ADOPTEES WHO ARE

9 OLDER THAN 18 YEARS OF AGE.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A person described in 

11 subparagraph (B) shall be deemed to have been 

12 a citizen of the United States at birth after the 

13 approval of an application filed within the 

14 United States or with a United States Em15 bassy. 

16 ‘‘(B) PERSON DESCRIBED.—A person de17 scribed in this clause is a person who— 

18 ‘‘(i) is older than 18 years of age; 

19 ‘‘(ii) was born outside the United 

20 States and was adopted by a parent who is 

21 a citizen of the United States before the 

22 date on which the person reached 18 years 

23 of age; and 

24 ‘‘(iii) was described in subparagraph 

25 (E), (F), or (G) of section 101(b)(1). 


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1 ‘‘(4) NO LIABILITY FOR PRIOR TAXES.—An in2 dividual who becomes a citizen of the United States 

3 pursuant to paragraph (1) or (3) may not be liable 

4 for any taxes that the individual would have paid to 

5 the United States as a citizen of the United States 

6 before the date on which the individual becomes 

7 such a citizen.’’. 

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

9 (1) HEADING.—The heading of section 320 of 

10 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

11 1431) is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘CHILDREN BORN OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; 

13 CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CITIZENSHIP IS ACQUIRED’’. 

14 (2) SECTION 301 OF THE IMMIGRATION AND NA15 TIONALITY ACT.—Section 301 of the Immigration 

16 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401) is amended— 

17 (A) in subsection (g), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

18 the end; 

19 (B) in subsection (h), by striking the pe20 riod at the end, inserting a semicolon and 

21 ‘‘and’’; and 

22 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(i) a person deemed a citizen at birth pursuant to 

24 section 320(b).’’. 


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1 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by 

3 striking the item relating to section 320 and inserting the 

4 following: 

‘‘Sec. 320. Children born outside the United States; conditions under which 

citizenship acquired.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. NONIMMIGRANT STATUS FOR CHILDREN BROUGHT 

6 TO THE UNITED STATES TO BE ADOPTED. 

7 Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nation8 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)) is amended— 

9 (1) in subparagraph (U), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

10 the end; 

11 (2) in subparagraph (V), by striking the period 

12 at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(W) an individual brought to the United 

15 States as a child to be adopted by a citizen of 

16 the United States.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. APPEAL OF NOTICE OF INTENT TO DENY AN ADOP18 TION. 

19 (a) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY TO

20 APPEAL.—If the Secretary of State determines that a cov21 ered individual is not eligible to be adopted by a citizen 

22 or national of the United States on the basis that the con23 ditions described in subsection (c) are not met, the Sec24 retary shall provide— 


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1 (1) a notice of intent to deny the adoption of 

2 the child to such citizen or national of the United 

3 States; and 

4 (2) an opportunity for such citizen or national 

5 to appeal the determination. 

6 (b) COVERED INDIVIDUAL DEFINED.—In this sec7 tion, the term ‘‘covered individual’’ means an individual 

8 who— 

9 (1) is younger than 18 years of age; 

10 (2) was born in a foreign country; and 

11 (3) is seeking to be adopted by a parent who is 

12 a citizen or national of the United States. 

13 (c) CONDITIONS FOR ADOPTION.—The conditions de14 scribed in this subsection are met if— 

15 (1) the covered individual’s biological parents 

16 (or parent, in the case of an individual who has 1 

17 sole or surviving parent) or other person or institu18 tion that retains legal custody of the covered indi19 vidual— 

20 (A) have freely given their written irrev21 ocable consent to the termination of their legal 

22 relationship with the individual, and to the indi23 vidual’s emigration and adoption and that such 

24 consent has not been induced by payment or 


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1 compensation of any kind and has not been 

2 given prior to the birth of the individual; 

3 (B) are unable to provide proper care for 

4 the individual, as determined by the competent 

5 authority in the country of the individual’s resi6 dence; or 

7 (C) have voluntarily relinquished the indi8 vidual to the competent authorities pursuant to 

9 the law of the country of the individual’s resi10 dence; or 

11 (2) the covered individual, as determined by the 

12 competent authority in the country of the individ13 ual’s residence— 

14 (A) has been abandoned or deserted by the 

15 individual’s biological parents or legal guardian; 

16 or 

17 (B) has been orphaned due to the death or 

18 disappearance of the individual’s biological par19 ents or legal guardian. 

20 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

21 Nothing in this Act, or in any amendment made by 

22 this Act, may be construed to— 

23 (1) abrogate any citizenship rights provided to 

24 an adoptee by the adoptee’s country of origin; or 


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1 (2) nullify the facts of the adoptee’s birth his2 tory. 

3 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that the government of 

5 each foreign country from which children are adopted by 

6 citizens of the United States should provide documenta7 tion of the adopted children’s original birth history to the 

8 adoptive family in accordance with the laws of such coun9 try. 

Æ 


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