[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2883 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2883

 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to confer United States 
  citizenship automatically and retroactively on certain foreign-born 
           children adopted by citizens of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 1999

Mr. Smith of Texas (for himself, Mr. LaHood, Mr. Paul, Mr. Nethercutt, 
Mr. Kuykendall, and Mr. Shays) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to confer United States 
  citizenship automatically and retroactively on certain foreign-born 
           children adopted by citizens of the United States.

    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 ``Adopted Orphans Citizenship Act''.

SEC. 2. ACQUISITION OF UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP BY CERTAIN ADOPTED 
              CHILDREN.

    (a) Amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act.--Section 301 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subsection (g);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subsection (h) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(i) an unmarried person, under the age of 18 years, born 
        outside the United States and its outlying possessions and 
        thereafter adopted by at least one parent who is a citizen of 
        the United States and who has been physically present in the 
        United States or one of its outlying possessions for a period 
        or periods totaling not less than 5 years prior to the adoption 
        of the person, at least 2 of which were after attaining the age 
        of 14 years, if--
                    ``(1) the person is physically present in the 
                United States with the citizen parent, having attained 
                the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 
                residence;
                    ``(2) the person satisfied the requirements in 
                subparagraph (E) or (F) of section 101(b)(1); and
                    ``(3) the person seeks documentation as a United 
                States citizen while under the age of 18 years.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to persons adopted before, on, or after the date of 
enactment of this Act.
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