[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1359 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1359

To provide United States citizenship for children adopted from outside 
               the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 25, 2009

  Ms. Landrieu (for herself and Mr. Inhofe) introduced the following 
    bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide United States citizenship for children adopted from outside 
               the United States, 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 ``Foreign Adopted Children Equality 
Act'' or the ``FACE Act''.

SEC. 2. CITIZENSHIP FOR CHILDREN ADOPTED FROM OUTSIDE THE UNITED 
              STATES.

    (a) In General.--Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1431(b)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Citizenship for Children Adopted From Outside the United 
States.--
            ``(1) In general.--A child born outside the United States 
        automatically becomes a citizen of the United States if the 
        Secretary of State is satisfied that all of the following 
        conditions are met:
                    ``(A) The child is adopted by a parent who is a 
                citizen of the United States.
                    ``(B) The child is younger than 18 years of age.
                    ``(C) It is determined that each adopting parent is 
                eligible and suitable to adopt the child, including 
                determining that the parent is able to support the 
                child and has undergone an appropriate criminal 
                background check.
                    ``(D) Prior to the adoption, the child was an 
                unmarried individual younger than 18 years of age--
                            ``(i)(I) whose biological parents (or 
                        parent, in the case of an individual who has 1 
                        sole or surviving parent) or other person or 
                        institution that retains legal custody of the 
                        individual--
                                    ``(aa) have freely given their 
                                written irrevocable consent to the 
                                termination of their legal relationship 
                                with the individual, and to the 
                                individual's emigration and adoption 
                                and that such consent has not been 
                                induced by payment or compensation of 
                                any kind and has not been given prior 
                                to the birth of the individual;
                                    ``(bb) are unable to provide proper 
                                care for the individual, as determined 
                                by the competent authority of the 
                                individual's residence; or
                                    ``(cc) have voluntarily 
                                relinquished the individual to the 
                                competent authorities pursuant to the 
                                law of the individual's residence; or
                            ``(II) who, as determined by the competent 
                        authority of the individual's residence--
                                    ``(aa) has been abandoned or 
                                deserted by the individual's biological 
                                parents or legal guardian; or
                                    ``(bb) has been orphaned due to the 
                                death or disappearance of the 
                                individual's biological parents or 
                                legal guardian; and
                            ``(ii) with respect to whom the Secretary 
                        of State--
                                    ``(I) is satisfied that the proper 
                                care will be furnished the individual 
                                if admitted to the United States;
                                    ``(II) is satisfied that the 
                                purpose of the adoption is to form a 
                                bona fide parent-child relationship and 
                                that the parent-child relationship of 
                                the individual and the biological 
                                parents has been terminated (and in 
                                carrying out both obligations under 
                                this subparagraph, the Secretary of 
                                State, in consultation with the 
                                Secretary of Homeland Security, may 
                                consider whether there is a petition 
                                pending to confer immigrant status on 1 
                                or both of the biological parents);
                                    ``(III) is satisfied that there has 
                                been no inducement, financial or 
                                otherwise, offered to obtain the 
                                consent nor was it given before the 
                                birth of the individual; and
                                    ``(IV) in consultation with the 
                                Secretary of Homeland Security, is 
                                satisfied that the individual is not a 
                                security risk.
            ``(2) Citizenship from birth.--An individual who becomes a 
        citizen of the United States pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be 
        deemed to have been a citizen of the United States at birth and 
        shall be issued a United States Consular Report of Birth.
            ``(3) Special rule for adoptees who are older than 18 years 
        of age.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A person described in 
                subparagraph (B) shall be deemed to have been a citizen 
                of the United States at birth after the approval of an 
                application filed within the United States or with a 
                United States Embassy.
                    ``(B) Person described.--A person described in this 
                clause is a person who--
                            ``(i) is older than 18 years of age;
                            ``(ii) was born outside the United States 
                        and was adopted by a parent who is a citizen of 
                        the United States before the date on which the 
                        person reached 18 years of age; and
                            ``(iii) was described in subparagraph (E), 
                        (F), or (G) of section 101(b)(1).
            ``(4) No liability for prior taxes.--An individual who 
        becomes a citizen of the United States pursuant to paragraph 
        (1) or (3) may not be liable for any taxes that the individual 
        would have paid to the United States as a citizen of the United 
        States before the date on which the individual becomes such a 
        citizen.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Heading.--The heading of section 320 of the Immigration 
        and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431) is amended to read as 
        follows:

   ``children born outside the united states; conditions under which 
                       citizenship is acquired''.

            (2) Section 301 of the immigration and nationality act.--
        Section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1401) is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (g), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subsection (h), by striking the period at 
                the end, inserting a semicolon and ``and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) a person deemed a citizen at birth pursuant to section 
320(b).''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act is amended by striking the item relating to section 
320 and inserting the following:

``Sec. 320. Children born outside the United States; conditions under 
                            which citizenship acquired.''.

SEC. 3. NONIMMIGRANT STATUS FOR CHILDREN BROUGHT TO THE UNITED STATES 
              TO BE ADOPTED.

    Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(a)(15)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (U), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (V), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(W) an individual brought to the United States as 
                a child to be adopted by a citizen of the United 
                States.''.

SEC. 4. APPEAL OF NOTICE OF INTENT TO DENY AN ADOPTION.

    (a) Requirement To Provide Opportunity To Appeal.--If the Secretary 
of State determines that a covered individual is not eligible to be 
adopted by a citizen or national of the United States on the basis that 
the conditions described in subsection (c) are not met, the Secretary 
shall provide--
            (1) a notice of intent to deny the adoption of the child to 
        such citizen or national of the United States; and
            (2) an opportunity for such citizen or national to appeal 
        the determination.
    (b) Covered Individual Defined.--In this section, the term 
``covered individual'' means an individual who--
            (1) is younger than 18 years of age;
            (2) was born in a foreign country; and
            (3) is seeking to be adopted by a parent who is a citizen 
        or national of the United States.
    (c) Conditions for Adoption.--The conditions described in this 
subsection are met if--
            (1) the covered individual's biological parents (or parent, 
        in the case of an individual who has 1 sole or surviving 
        parent) or other person or institution that retains legal 
        custody of the covered individual--
                    (A) have freely given their written irrevocable 
                consent to the termination of their legal relationship 
                with the individual, and to the individual's emigration 
                and adoption and that such consent has not been induced 
                by payment or compensation of any kind and has not been 
                given prior to the birth of the individual;
                    (B) are unable to provide proper care for the 
                individual, as determined by the competent authority in 
                the country of the individual's residence; or
                    (C) have voluntarily relinquished the individual to 
                the competent authorities pursuant to the law of the 
                country of the individual's residence; or
            (2) the covered individual, as determined by the competent 
        authority in the country of the individual's residence--
                    (A) has been abandoned or deserted by the 
                individual's biological parents or legal guardian; or
                    (B) has been orphaned due to the death or 
                disappearance of the individual's biological parents or 
                legal guardian.

SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act, or in any amendment made by this Act, may be 
construed to--
            (1) abrogate any citizenship rights provided to an adoptee 
        by the adoptee's country of origin; or
            (2) nullify the facts of the adoptee's birth history.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that the government of each foreign 
country from which children are adopted by citizens of the United 
States should provide documentation of the adopted children's original 
birth history to the adoptive family in accordance with the laws of 
such country.
                                 <all>