Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021

To provide for the automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 2. United States citizenship for certain internationally adopted individuals Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1431(b) (b) Adopted children of citizen parent (1) In general Subsection (a) shall apply to a child adopted by a United States citizen parent if the child satisfies the requirements applicable to adopted children under subparagraph (E), (F), or (G) of section 101(b)(1), regardless of the date on which the adoption was finalized. (2) Limited application to certain adopted individuals residing in the united states Notwithstanding section 318, an individual born outside of the United States who was adopted by a United States citizen parent shall automatically become a citizen of the United States when all of the following conditions have been fulfilled: (A) The individual was adopted by a United States citizen before the individual reached 18 years of age. (B) The individual was physically present in the United States in the legal custody of the citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission before the individual reached 18 years of age. (C) The individual never acquired United States citizenship before the date of the enactment of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 (D) The individual was residing in the United States on the date of the enactment of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 (3) Limited application to certain adopted individuals residing outside of the united states (A) In general Any individual who meets all of the criteria described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (2), but does not meet the requirement described in subparagraph (D) of such paragraph, shall automatically become a citizen of the United States on the date on which the individual is physically present in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission. (B) Inapplicability of grounds of inadmissibility The grounds of inadmissibility set forth in section 212(a) shall not apply to any individual described in subparagraph (A) who is seeking admission to the United States. (C) Criminal background check Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B), an individual described in subparagraph (A) may not be issued a visa unless— (i) the individual was subjected to a criminal background check; and (ii) if the background check conducted pursuant to clause (i) reveals that the individual has committed a crime that was not properly resolved, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State coordinated with relevant law enforcement agencies to ensure that appropriate action is taken to resolve such criminal activity. .

Summary: Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 This bill provides for the automatic acquisition of citizenship for certain individuals adopted by a U.S. citizen. A child born outside the United States and adopted by a U.S. citizen shall automatically acquire citizenship upon meeting certain requirements, regardless of when the adoption was finalized. Currently, adoptees who were over the age of 18 on February 27, 2001, do not automatically acquire citizenship. An individual born outside the United States and residing in the United States shall automatically acquire citizenship if the individual (1) was adopted by a citizen before becoming 18 years old, (2) was physically present in the United States in the citizen parent's custody pursuant to lawful admission before becoming 18 years old, (3) never acquired citizenship before this bill's enactment, and (4) was lawfully residing in the United States on this bill's enactment date. An individual born outside the United States and residing outside the United States but who otherwise meets all of the requirements shall automatically acquire citizenship upon being physically present in the United States pursuant to lawful admission. Such an individual shall be subject to a background check. If the background check reveals the individual has committed a crime that was not properly resolved, the individual may not receive a visa unless the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State have coordinated with law enforcement to ensure that action was taken to resolve the issue.