Title: Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2018
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2018
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to grant automatic citizenship to all qualifying children adopted by a U.S. citizen parent. (Currently, an adopted child must have been under 18 years old as of February 27, 2001, in order to qualify for automatic citizenship.)
An individual born outside of the United States who was adopted by a U.S. citizen parent shall automatically become a U.S. citizen when the following conditions have been fulfilled:
An individual who meets such criteria, except for lawfully residing in the United States on the date of enactment of this bill, shall automatically become a U.S. citizen on the date on which the individual is physically present in the United States pursuant to a lawful admission.
A visa may not be issued to such an individual unless:
Automatic citizenship may not be granted to an individual who was deported for an offense that involved the use of physical force against another person.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5233 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5233

 To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for 
  certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 8, 2018

  Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mrs. 
Mimi Walters of California, Mr. MacArthur, Ms. Judy Chu of California, 
 and Ms. Lofgren) introduced the following bill; which was 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.

    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 ``Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED 
              INDIVIDUALS.

    Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1431(b)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(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).
            ``(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 2018.
                    ``(D) The individual was residing in the United 
                States on the date of the enactment of the Adoptee 
                Citizenship Act of 2018 pursuant to a lawful admission.
            ``(3) Limited application to certain adopted individuals 
        residing outside of the united states.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraphs (B) 
                through (D), an individual who meets all of the 
                criteria described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of 
                paragraph (2) 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 an 
                individual described in subparagraph (A) who is seeking 
                admission to the United States.
                    ``(C) Criminal background check.--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.
                    ``(D) Deportable offenses.--An individual described 
                in subparagraph (A) may not be granted automatic 
                citizenship under this paragraph if the individual--
                            ``(i) has been found guilty of a deportable 
                        offense that has as an element the use, 
                        attempted use, or threatened use of physical 
                        force against another person; and
                            ``(ii) was deported.''.
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