Equal Citizenship for Children Act of 2023

Subjects: Immigration


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1386 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. 
Barragan, 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Equal Citizenship for Children Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN BORN 
              OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

    Section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``all of the following conditions'' and 
                inserting ``each of the following applicable 
                conditions'';
                    (B) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) If the parent is a naturalized citizen, the child is 
        under the age of eighteen years at the time of the parent's 
        naturalization.''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) by striking ``The child is residing'' 
                        and inserting ``While under the age of 
                        eighteen, the child resides'';
                            (ii) by striking ``legal and physical 
                        custody'' and inserting ``legal custody''; and
                            (iii) by inserting before the period at the 
                        end the following: ``, or a pending application 
                        to adjust status to lawful permanent 
                        resident''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `child' 
has the meaning given such term in section 101(c), except that such 
term includes the nonmarital child of a legal custodial citizen father, 
and the child of a United States citizen parent if the parent-child 
relationship satisfies the parentage laws of the child's or parent's 
residence or domicile, whether in the United States or elsewhere.
    ``(f) Clarifications.--Any provision of law (including section 
301(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as in effect before 
October 10, 1978), and the provisos of section 201(g) of the 
Nationality Act of 1940) that provide for a person's loss of 
citizenship if the person failed to come to, or reside or be physically 
present in, the United States shall not apply in the case of a person 
claiming United States citizenship based on such person's descent from 
an individual described in this section. Any provision of law 
(including sections 301 and 309 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 
and the provisos of 201(g) and 205 the Nationality Act of 1940) that 
require the citizen parent to reside in the United States for a number 
of years shall be deemed satisfied by subsection (a)(3).
    ``(g) Retroactive Application.--This section, as amended by the 
Equal Citizenship for Children Act of 2023 shall be applied to persons 
born after noon (Eastern Standard Time), January 9, 1941, as though 
this section, as amended, had been in effect on the date of their 
birth, except that the retroactive application described in this 
subsection shall not affect the validity of citizenship of anyone who 
has obtained citizenship under any other provision of law.''.

SEC. 3. CHILDREN BORN AND RESIDING OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.

    Section 322 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1433) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `child' 
has the meaning given such term in section 320.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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