I 
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. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. JACOBS, 
Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. CASAR, Ms. MENG, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 
TRONE, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Mr. IVEY) introduced the fol-
lowing 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 Representa-
tives 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’’. 
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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 con-
ditions’’; 
(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 ap-
plication to adjust status to lawful perma-
nent resident’’; and 
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(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 relation-
ship 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 (includ-
ing 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 pro-
vide 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). 
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‘‘(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 pro-
vision 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 fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(e) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘child’ has the meaning given such term in section 
320.’’. 
Æ 
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