An act to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide preferential treatment in the admission of certain children of United States citizens.
PL 97-359 (S.1698), enacted 10/22/1982

96 STAT. 1716 
PUBLIC LAW 97-359—OCT. 22, 1982 
Public Law 97-
97th Congress 
•359 
Oct. 22, 1982 
[S. 1698] 
Immigration and 
Nationality Act, 
amendment; 
certain children 
of U.S. citizens, 
admission. 
8 u s e 1151, 
1153. 
An Act 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide preferential treatment in 
the admission of certain children of United States citizens. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 204 of 
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amended by 
inserting at the end thereof the following new subsection: 
"(g)(1) Any alien claiming to be an alien described in paragraph 
(2XA) of this subsection (or any person on behalf of such an alien) 
may file a petition with the Attorney General for classification 
under section 201(b), 203(a)(1), or 203(a)(4), as appropriate. After an 
investigation of the facts of each case the Attorney General shall, if 
the conditions described in paragraph (2) are met, approve the 
petition and forward one copy to the Secretary of State. 
"(2) The Attorney General may approve a petition for an alien 
under paragraph (1) if— 
"(A) he has reason to believe that the alien (i) was born in 
Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand after 1950 and 
before the date of the enactment of this subsection, and (ii) was 
fathered by a United States citizen; 
"(B) he has received an acceptable guarantee of legal custody 
and financial responsibility described in paragraph (4); and 
"(C) in the case of an alien under eighteen years of age, (i) the 
alien's placement with a sponsor in the United States has been 
arranged by an appropriate public, private, or State child wel-
fare agency licensed in the United States and actively involved 
in the intercountry placement of children and (ii) the alien's 
mother or guardian has in writing irrevocably released the 
alien for emigration. 
"(3) In considering petitions filed under paragraph (1), the Attor-
ney General shall— 
"(A) consult with appropriate governmental officials and offi-
cials of private voluntary organizations in the country of the 
alien's birth in order to make the determinations described in 
subparagraphs (A) and (C)(i) of paragraph 2; and 
"(B) consider the physical appearance of the alien and any 
evidence provided by the petitioner, including birth and baptis-
mal certificates, local civil records, photographs of, and letters 
or proof of financial support from, a putative father who is a 
citizen of the United States, and the testimony of witnesses, to 
the extent it is relevant or probative. 
"(4XA) A guarantee of legal custody and financial responsibility 
for an alien described in paragraph (2) must— 
"(i) be signed in the presence of an immigration officer or 
consular officer by an individual (hereinafter in this paragraph 
referred to as the 'sponsor') who is twenty-one years of age or 
older, is of good moral character, and is a citizen of the United 
States or alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, and 
PUBLIC LAW 97-359—OCT. 22, 1982 
96 STAT. 1717 
"(ii) provide that the sponsor agrees (I) in the case of an alien 
under eighteen years of age, to assume legal custody for the 
alien after the alien's departure to the United States and until 
the alien becomes eighteen years of age, in accordance with the 
laws of the State where the alien and the sponsor will reside, 
and (R) to furnish, during the five-year period beginning on the 
date of the alien's acquiring the status of an alien lawfully 
admitted for permanent residence, or during the period be^n-
ning on the date of the alien's acquiring the status of an alien 
lawfully admitted for permanent residence and ending on the 
date on which the alien becomes twenty-one years of age, 
whichever period is longer, such financial support as is neces-
sary to maintain the family in the United States of which the 
alien is a member at a level equal to at least 125 per centimi of 
the current official poverty line (as established by the Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget, under section 673(2) of 
the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 and as revised 95 Stat. 5ii. 
by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under section ^2 use 9902. 
652 of such Act) for a family of the same size as the size of the 95 Stat. 506. 
alien's family. 
42 use 9847. 
"(B) A guarantee of legal custody and financial responsibility 
described in subparagraph (A) may be enforced with respect to an 
alien against his sponsor in a civil suit brought by the Attorney 
General in the United States district court for the district in which 
the sponsor resides, except that a sponsor or his estate shall not be 
liable under such a guarantee if the sponsor dies or is adjudicated a 
bankrupt imder title 11, United States Code.". 
Approved October 22, 1982. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1698: 
CONGRESSIONAL REOORD, Vol. 128 (1982): 
Sept. 28, considered and passed Senate. 
Oct. 1, considered and passed House, amended; Senate concurred in House 
amendments. 
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 18, No. 42 (1982): 
Oct. 22, Presidential statement.