II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1554 

To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for certain 

internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2019 

Mr. BLUNT (for himself, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. COLLINS, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for certain internationally adopted individuals, 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 ‘‘Adoptee Citizenship 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN INTER7 NATIONALLY ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS. 

8 Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 

9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1431(b)) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(b) ADOPTED CHILDREN OF CITIZEN PARENT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall apply 

3 to a child adopted by a United States citizen parent 

4 if the child satisfies the requirements applicable to 

5 adopted children under subparagraph (E), (F), or 

6 (G) of section 101(b)(1), regardless of the date on 

7 which the adoption was finalized. 

8 ‘‘(2) LIMITED APPLICATION TO CERTAIN

9 ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING IN THE UNITED

10 STATES.—Notwithstanding section 318, an indi11 vidual born outside of the United States who was 

12 adopted by a United States citizen parent shall auto13 matically become a citizen of the United States when 

14 all of the following conditions have been fulfilled: 

15 ‘‘(A) The individual was adopted by a 

16 United States citizen before the individual 

17 reached 18 years of age. 

18 ‘‘(B) The individual was physically present 

19 in the United States in the legal custody of the 

20 citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission 

21 before the individual reached 18 years of age. 

22 ‘‘(C) The individual never acquired United 

23 States citizenship before the date of the enact24 ment of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019. 


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1 ‘‘(D) The individual was residing in the 

2 United States on the date of the enactment of 

3 the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019 pursuant 

4 to a lawful admission. 

5 ‘‘(3) LIMITED APPLICATION TO CERTAIN

6 ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING OUTSIDE OF THE

7 UNITED STATES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An individual who 

9 meets all of the criteria described in paragraph 

10 (2) except for subparagraph (D) shall automati11 cally become a citizen of the United States on 

12 the date on which the individual is physically 

13 present in the United States pursuant to a law14 ful admission. 

15 ‘‘(B) INAPPLICABILITY OF GROUNDS OF

16 INADMISSIBILITY.—The grounds of inadmis17 sibility set forth in section 212(a) shall not 

18 apply to an individual described in subpara19 graph (A) who is seeking admission to the 

20 United States. 

21 ‘‘(C) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK.— 

22 Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B), 

23 an individual described in subparagraph (A) 

24 may not be issued a visa unless— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the individual was subjected to a 

2 criminal background check; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) if the background check con4 ducted pursuant to clause (i) reveals that 

5 the individual has committed a crime that 

6 was not properly resolved, the Secretary of 

7 Homeland Security and the Secretary of 

8 State coordinated with relevant law en9 forcement agencies to ensure that appro10 priate action is taken to resolve such crimi11 nal activity.’’. 

Æ 


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