I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2731 
To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for certain 
internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 14, 2019 
Mr. SMITH of Washington (for himself, Mr. WOODALL, Ms. LOFGREN, and 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizen-
ship for certain internationally adopted individuals, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Adoptee Citizenship 
Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN INTER-
NATIONALLY ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS. 
Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1431(b)) is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(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 indi-
vidual born outside of the United States who was 
adopted by a United States citizen parent shall auto-
matically 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 enact-
ment of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019. 
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‘‘(D) The individual was residing in the 
United States on the date of the enactment of 
the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019 pursuant 
to a lawful admission. 
‘‘(3) 
LIMITED
APPLICATION
TO
CERTAIN 
ADOPTED INDIVIDUALS RESIDING OUTSIDE OF THE 
UNITED STATES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—An individual who 
meets all of the criteria described in paragraph 
(2) except for subparagraph (D) shall automati-
cally become a citizen of the United States on 
the date on which the individual is physically 
present in the United States pursuant to a law-
ful admission. 
‘‘(B) INAPPLICABILITY
OF
GROUNDS
OF 
INADMISSIBILITY.—The grounds of inadmis-
sibility set forth in section 212(a) shall not 
apply to an individual described in subpara-
graph (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— 
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‘‘(i) the individual was subjected to a 
criminal background check; and 
‘‘(ii) if the background check con-
ducted 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 en-
forcement agencies to ensure that appro-
priate action is taken to resolve such crimi-
nal activity.’’. 
Æ 
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