What happened last Congressional session?
The Bill Died. While Congress passed the “CHIPS and Science Act” in 2022—which in part drew provisions from two other larger bills being negotiated, one of which contained intercountry adoptee provisions—the final bill did not include any provisions addressing intercountry adoptees and US citizenship. No further action occurred in 2022 to move the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 forward in either the Senate or the House.
As part of complicated maneuvering to address the lack of US citizenship for thousands of intercountry adoptees in the US, a pared down version of the Adoptee Citizenship Act passed the House in March. But it’s not the actual ACA. It was wrapped up in amendments to a much larger and unrelated bill that was negotiated between the House and Senate. Ultimately, however, intercountry adoptee provisions were not included in the final bill.
What happened in the House?
The quick answer is that in February the House passed the massive COMPETES Act on a largely partisan vote. And that a slew of amendments were added to the COMPETES act before its passage, including one that addressed intercountry adoptees without citizenship.
What happened in the Senate?
The Senate took up the COMPETES Act for consideration in late March, gutted the bill, and added its own provisions, ultimately passing the amended bill on a 68-28 vote. It has now been transmitted back to the House, where the House has disagreed with the Senate amendments (the amended Senate bill no longer contains the adoptee citizenship provisions, but they were never in the Senate bill initially). Party leaders in the Senate and House now appointed more than 100 conference committee members to work out differences between the two bills.
What happened in the Conference Committee?
After one public meeting of the conference committee, Senate leadership negotiated a final bill, known as the CHIPS and Science Act. It quickly passed both the House and Senate. Provisions to address intercountry adoptees and US citizenship did not make it into the final bill.
The following information is outdated. It explains what happened in 2002 to forward measures that could have provided relief for intercountrya adoptees without citizenship. Those measures did not pass.
What is the House COMPETES Act?
It’s a $350 billion bill, with dozens of House amendments, intended to address US technological competitiveness around the globe, particularly with China.
Just get to the chase. Is the House passage of the COMPETES Act good news?
Yes, it is good news, though there’s a lot of work ahead to keep the adoptee citizenship provisions in the final bill.
Whats the skinny? What do the House amendments do?
The adoptee citizenship provisions in the House version of the bill does one thing: it removes a prior date-based restriction that requires an intercountry adoptee to be younger than 18 years of age on February 27, 2001 (here’s a separate earlier FAQ about the current law, including how it works and where it falls short). If the bill is ultimately enacted, then any intercountry adoptee who qualified for citizenship while a child—no matter the date of birth—would acquire US citizenship.
Which adoptees does the House bill include?
It includes all intercountry adoptees. That said, there are two requirements under the bill (and under current law) that must be met, no matter your date of birth:
- You must have been admitted to the United States as a legal permanent resident (i.e., you received a green card when you entered the US)
- Your adoption must have been full and final prior to age 18, whether that adoption was completed in the country of origin or in the United States.
While there are other issues that must be met, those are the two big qualifiers for any intercountry adoptee seeking US citizenship under current law (and under the language of this bill).
Does the House version of the bill include adoptees who have already been deported?
Yes, but only if they qualified for US citizenship as a child but did not obtain citizenship because they were too old on February 27, 2001, the effective date of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. The amendment eliminates the need to be younger than 18 on that date and applies “to individuals who satisfy the requirements of [the Child Citizenship Act] before, on, or after the date of the enactment of [the Child Citizenship Act]”
My adoption was never finalized abroad or in the United States. Do I qualify for citizenship under the House bill?
No. The adoption must have been finalized while you were a child, whether abroad or in the United States. To put it simply, you must be an adoptee—legally. For the most part, those who do not qualify under this amendment would be people who 1) entered the country on a non-immigrant visa (e.g., a visitor or tourist visa); or 2) entered the country on an IR-4 or IH-4 visa but whose parents never finalized the adoption in a state court. I have a number of clients in this boat and neither the amendment nor the actual Adoptee Citizenship Act would fix this. They must still naturalize or seek a different path to citizenship.
I was never a legal permanent resident. Do I qualify for automatic US citizenship under the bill language in the House?
No. See the previous questions, but you must have been admitted to the United States as a legal permanent resident, which means you entered on an immigrant visa and received a green card. Those who entered on non-immigrant visas (e.g., tourist, student, visitor) do not qualify for acquired U.S. citizenship unless they adjusted their status to a legal permanent resident while still a child.
Do you have the text of the adoptee citizenship provisions in the House bill?
Yes. This is the full amendment, and it is part of a much larger list of amendments that were added to the COMPETES Act in the House.
SEC. 80306. CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN BORN OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 104 of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (8 U.S. C. 1431 note) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 104. EFFECTIVE DATE.
‘‘The amendments made by this title shall take effect 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply—
‘‘(1) to individuals who satisfy the requirements of section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431), before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act; and
‘(2) to individuals who satisfy the requirements of section 322 (8 U.S.C. 1433) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as in effect on such effective date.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this section
(2) LIMITATION.—An individual who, before the date of the enactment of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-395), satisfied the requirements of section 320(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431(a)), or section 320(b) of such Act, if applicable, is deemed to be a citizen of the United States as of the date of the enactment of this section if such individual is not a citizen of the United States under any other Act.
What’s next?
More than 100 members of Congress have been announced as members of the conference committee. That committee began meeting on May 12, 2022, and worked to create a negotiated bill. That negotiated bill—the CHIPS and Science Act—ultimately did not include provisions for intercountry adoptees.
What is with children adopted by a U.S. citizen living in a foreign country? It still is discriminating parents that can‘t or don‘t want to conceive biological children. A biological child would automatically become a U.S citizen if the parent fulfills certain requirements but it seem again, that a non biological child is not considered the same.
I remember when I saw this🙏🌹House Passes Bill To Close Citizenship Loophole For Intercountry Adoptees
HR1593/S967 [PDF Copy] The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 is a critical piece of federal legislation that closes a discriminatory loophole in US immigration law, one that denies U.S. citizenship to thousands of intercountry adoptees who decades ago were legally adopted by U.S. citizen parents, but didn’t pass😭..Please it’s only fair, to include all Legal Adoptees. I want to go home, to my US Family my Children ,Husband my Grandkids🌹😭🙏
I sure hope that this bill will one day pass and become law. It’s so unfair, the way the present law dies not apply to those born before 1983. It really is saying that those left out are less of a child than others.
We really need to make sure that we are taking care of those who we have already adopted into this Country,” “U.S citizenship as many Americans know is a huge part of identity and a sense of belonging. Please pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act correcting loophole which would right a wrong making it fair. We were All “Legally” Adopted. 🌹🙏 Life is short please let us reunite with our families.
Amen. please let us reunite with our family. 👪
Adoptees are legal heirs of American families. Please ensure their equal rights as U.S. citizens, all the waiting when whole time they were Legally Adopted, away from us families they grew up with.
💔Imagine if one Day, Social Security, has a cut off date, and because of that “simple date” certain age group will miss out on their Social Security Benefits. This would be totally unfair, if also having to wait for a Bill that could take years😭.. imagine, all those years working, gone.
Exactly how this Adoptee Citizenship Act feels, meanwhile missing life with Our US families, now living totally alone in another country, 😭😭😭😭😭😭please, why isn’t this fixed..? Either way….Thankyou, for not giving up on us Legal Adoptees, & for also allowing our urgent cry on your comment area, I’m only trying to Help♥️🌹🙏 All Adoptees like myself, by keeping Faith & Hope and Not give up, may we all soon Return to Our US Families..👪😭🇺🇲. God Bless P. S. I miss my children my parents, my pets, my life. Please help us, it’s gonna be another year without Mothers day😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔🇺🇲
Adoptee Rights Law CenterADOPTEE RIGHTS LAW CENTERLegal representation and advocacy for adult adopted peopleMENU
FAQ: U.S. Citizenship for Intercountry Adoptees
Last updated on February 12, 2023
Questions and answers about US citizenship for intercountry adoptees, including how Congress could fix the problem.
Is this information up to date?
Yes. But keep in mind that, when I talk about the Adoptee Citizenship Act, it currently refers to bills that have been introduced in the past to fix the problem of intercountry adoptees who are without US citizenship. The Adoptee Citizenship Act has not yet been reintroduced in the current Congress, and it’s not fully known if it will be.
What’s the current law and what’s wrong with it?
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (known as the “CCA”) generally controls whether or not an intercountry adoptee to the United State automatically acquires U.S. citizenship. The CCA went into effect on February 27, 2001, and it ensured automatic citizenship to intercountry adoptees who were fully and finally adopted—but only if they were younger than 18 years of age at the time of the law’s effective date. That is, an intercountry adoptee who was 18 years of age on February 27, 2001, is excluded from the law and has not been eligible for automatic U.S. citizenship under current law. Thousands of intercountry adoptees—most of whom were born before 1983—did not then and still do not qualify today for automatic U.S. citizenship. Many may still lack U.S. citizenship today, and some intercountry adoptees may not even know they lack citizenship. Worse, dozens of adoptees have been deported to their countries of origin and others live in the U.S. under removal orders, subject to deportation at anytime.
What is Congress doing to fix this problem?
Congress has tried to fix this by introducing the Adoptee Citizenship Act each Congressional session since 2015. The Act, however, has never passed nor has it even received a hearing. The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 was the latest bill, but it died in the 117th Congress.
What was the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021?
The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021—sometimes called ACA or ACA21 for short—were two identical bills in the U.S. 117th Congress: HR1593 and S967. These bills, like those before them, would have amended U.S. immigration law to repeal a loophole that has operated to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to thousands of intercountry adoptees who were adopted by U.S. citizen parents, some more than sixty years ago. While most people presume that children adopted by U.S. citizen parents receive automatic U.S. citizenship when they are adopted, this is not true for many intercountry adoptees. Many are now adults and do not have U.S. citizenship, like Monica Ross.
My Name is Monica Ross
Monica Ross was adopted from Germany in 1960 by a U.S. soldier and his spouse. She found out only a few years ago that she was a not a U.S. citizen. Here’s her story, and her request.
How would an Adoptee Citizenship Act address the current problems?
While prior bills have addressed several issues in current immigration law, the primary issue relates to the date of birth of intercountry adoptees. The ACA, as introduced in past, would provide automatic citizenship to intercountry adoptees no matter their age of birth, provided they meet the other requirements of the law. The provision in the ACA that eliminates the age requirement states that automatic citizenship would apply to intercountry adoptees “regardless of the date on which the adoption was finalized.” Other issues, however, may still prevent acquisition of US citizenship.
Does the Adoptee Citizenship Act resolve all the issues intercountry adoptees have with securing U.S. citizenship?
No. Even if the ACA was enacted last session in its introduced form, there are generally two groups of people that the bill did not completely address:
People who were not fully and finally adopted in either their country of origin or in the United States. In other words, the person’s adoption was never legally finalized. The vast majority of these adoptees are those who entered the United States on an IR-4 visa and were not adopted in the United States before the age of 16.
Adoptees who have been deported. While the ACA addresses situations where an adoptee has already been deported, the path to citizenship for these adoptees is often more difficult.
There are a few other exceptions that relate more to general immigration law and not specifically to the Adoptee Citizenship Act or to the Child Citizenship Act. The most prominent of those issues relates to adoptees who cannot prove that they were lawfully admitted into the United States. That is a very complex issue and difficult to resolve with or without the proposed bill.
Hold on. Intercountry adoptees have been deported? How did that happen?
Though the exact number of intercountry adoptees who have been deported from the United States is not known, it is presumed to be at least fifty, and we learn of new deportations each year. Generally, adoptees have been deported because: 1) they were never provided U.S. citizenship and thus did not obtain the benefits and privileges of citizenship; and 2) they committed a crime that led to their deportation. In at least one case, the U.S. government has begun efforts to remove an intercountry adoptee not because of criminal activity but because the adoptee could not prove that she entered the country legally, despite having been adopted by U.S. citizen parents.
I’m an intercountry adoptee who has been deported. Will the Adoptee Citizenship Act help me?
Maybe. It will depend on whether a new bill addresses this situation. In the past the ACA included provisions that provided some protection and rights for previously deported intercountry adoptees, though additional hurdles were involved in returning to the U.S. and acquiring U.S. citizenship upon that return. Under the language of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 (now dead), intercountry adoptees who had been removed from the United States (i.e., deported) had a path to return to the United States to secure citizenship and remain in the country as U.S. citizens. Returning to the U.S. under the 2021 version of the ACA would have required applying for and being issued an immigrant visa. The bill would have made deportees eligible to apply for and receive a visa, despite prior criminal convictions that led to their deportation. Nevertheless, to obtain that visa, the person must have:
undergone a criminal background check;
“resolved” any prior criminal activity that may be disclosed in the criminal background check. What is meant by “resolved” in the bill is not clear but it would likely involve discretion on the part of the government to determine the appropriateness of issuing a visa for a deported adoptee.
If the deported intercountry adoptee obtains a visa and enters the United States on that visa, he or she would become a U.S. citizen automatically upon admission to the country, at least under the prior draft of the ACA.
I’m an intercountry adoptee without citizenship in the United States, and I also have a criminal record. Will that prevent me from becoming a citizen under the ACA?
Under the most recent version of the ACA, you would have become a citizen even though you have a criminal record, so long as you meet the requirements of the law. I have represented intercountry adoptees who have criminal records but are citizens under the current Child Citizenship Act. The criminal record had no bearing on securing a Certificate of Citizenship, though a criminal record in some instances may be used to deny issuance of a U.S. passport.
I’m an intercountry adoptee and I came to the country on a tourist visa when I was a child. Will the ACA help me?
Generally, and without knowing more specific information about the entry and other circumstances of your adoption, the answer will always depend on the text in any bill. Basically, it’s what lawyers often say when they don’t know: it depends.
It has been my position that the last version of the ACA would help you—unless it is amended or interpreted differently. The 2021 did not specifically require the adoptee to be a legal permanent resident, as is currently required under the Child Citizenship Act (legal permanent resident, or LPR, is the status a person obtains when they are admitted to the U.S. on an immigrant visa, such as an IR-3 or IR-4 visa, discussed below). Rather, the 2021 ACA required that the adoptee be residing in the U.S. “pursuant to a lawful admission” at the time of the enactment of the ACA—so long as they meet any other requirements of the ACA, such as a final adoption. The term “lawful admission,” as used in the ACA, would include those who entered lawfully but who may not currently be legal permanent residents. That is, it should include those who entered lawfully on both immigrant or non-immigrant visas, such as visitor/tourist visas. But whether this will remain in a future bill is difficult to predict.
I’m an intercountry adoptee without citizenship. If the ACA is ever enacted, what happens next?
Good question. Though the ACA as previously drafted would confer “automatic” citizenship to intercountry adoptees, it doesn’t mean you’ll automatically receive a Certificate of Citizenship or a U.S. passport in the mail. Unless some other approach is taken as a result of the ACA being enacted (and assuming it is enacted), it is likely that anyone who qualifies for citizenship under the ACA will need to apply for and receive proof of that citizenship, typically in the form of a Certificate of Citizenship.
Obtaining a Certificate of Citizenship requires submitting a form N-600 and supporting documentation, plus paying the filing fee, which is currently $1,170.00 (and likely to increase substantially in the future). Obtaining a passport is faster, far cheaper, and may be easier, depending on the documentation you have. A U.S. passport, however, can be revoked or denied for reasons unrelated to citizenship status (e.g., failure to pay child support, significant tax debts, outstanding felony warrants). Generally, whether you are applying for a U.S. passport or a Certificate of Citizenship, you will need to have the following documents available:
Final decree or judgment of adoption, including a certified translation if a foreign decree is not in English;
Evidence of physical presence in the United States (often satisfied with school enrollment records);
Proof of lawful permanent residence in the United States (e.g., a green card)
Additional General Questions
I have a dumb question that I’m afraid to ask. Who are intercountry adoptees and how many live in the United States?
An intercountry adopted person (or adoptee) is a person who is born in one country and legally adopted by a citizen or citizens of another country. Some people also use the term transnational adoptee. Within the intercountry adoptee community, there may be many other terms of self-identification, including transracial, transcultural, and country-specific identifiers. FWIW, since the mid-1950s, considered the beginning of sustained intercountry adoption to the United States, hundreds of thousands of children have come to the United States as intercountry adoptees, with more than 200,000 children arriving in the United States in the last twenty years.
Are intercountry adoptees considered immigrants?
Yes. Under United States law, intercountry adoptees are treated as immigrants for citizenship purposes and must “immigrate” to the United States by entering the country with an immigrant visa. Those visas, which relate to adoption, are known by the following visa codes: IR-3, IH-3, IR-4, and IH-4 visas. The most common visas today are IR-3/IH-3, and IR-4/IH-4, and adoptions from many years ago may have been assigned a visa category that is no longer in use. The prefix IH in the visa codes refers to the fact that the adoption was under the auspices of the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (usually called “the Hague Convention” in the context of adoption).
What’s the difference between an IR-3 and an IR-4 visa?
The difference is generally where the adoption occurs. An IR-3 visa generally means that the person has been adopted fully and finally in the adoptee’s country of origin. That is, a judgment or decree of adoption was issued by a court or tribunal in the country where the child was born. An IR-4 means that there was no full and final adoption in the country of origin and that the child immigrated to the United States “for the purpose of adoption.” With IR-4 visas, the prospective adoptive parent or parents are generally appointed as the child’s legal guardian until the adoption is finalized in the United States.
Unfortunately, some prospective adoptive parents never finalize the adoption in the United States and the child does not acquire citizenship. They remain permanent legal residents and cannot vote, cannot obtain certain benefits, and are subject to deportation or removal from the country if they commit a removable offense. Once an adult, the only option to become a citizen is to naturalize, provided that they have the documentation and do not have anything on their record that would prevent securing citizenship. Even today, intercountry adoptee children admitted on an IR-4 visa and who have not yet been adopted in a state court, may become an adult without acquiring U.S. citizenship. They would then need to naturalize.
Is anyone monitoring IR-4 visas to make sure the child’s adoption is finalized in the United States?
No. I am not aware of any formal oversight by the U.S. government, adoption agencies, or state child welfare departments in monitoring IR-4 visas to assure that the child who immigrates to the U.S. is ultimately adopted in a state court, nor are there current laws in place to compel a parent (who is not yet legally the adoptive parent) to finalize the adoption in state court. Since 2002, more than 50,000 children have entered the United States on IR-4/IH-4 visas, and it is unknown how many of them have ultimately been adopted in state court.
The use of IR-4 immigrant visas “for the purpose of adoption” does not assure the child will ever be adopted. The use of such visas—in conjunction with the failure to finalize the adoption—will likely remain a loophole in current law even if the ACA is enacted. It also has significant legal and social ramifications, such as:
illegal or unregulated “rehoming” of children. In addition to increasing the chances of a non-citizen child being trafficked, when a child is “rehomed” or placed illegally or informally with another family, the child essentially loses the ability gain automatic citizenship through adoption. The child, as an adult, will likely face problems with citizenship status later in life and could be subject to deportation, something that would not be possible had the child’s adoption been finalized.
legal exemptions that relate to voting and false claims of citizenship. Normally, if a person who is not a US citizen votes or obtains a benefit through a false claim of U.S. citizenship, that person can be denied U.S. citizenship later. A specific exemption exists, however, for people who reasonably believe they were citizens when they voted or claimed U.S. citizenship. This exemption applies only if they are the children of US citizens, whether natural born or adoptive children. Such an exemption may not apply if the adoption was never finalized, though there are arguments to get around this.
I’m not sure I am a U.S. citizen. How do I find out?
Knowing you are a citizen and proving you are a citizen are two different things. Let’s take the second one, which is fairly easy to explain: proof of citizenship. There are generally four documents you can use to prove U.S. citizenship:
A government-issued certificate of birth showing you were born in the United States;
A U.S. passport;
A Certificate of Naturalization;
A Certificate of Citizenship.
If you have one of these documents, then you have proof (and also knowledge) that you are a U.S. citizen.
If you do not have any of these documents and do not even have a copy of one, then you will need to determine what documents exist to help prove citizenship. To do that you will need to either find one of these documents or find the documents you need through a request to the Department of State or the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). My suggestion would be to contact an attorney to help. Solutions may be as easy as making a request for your records to the USCIS, but the solution could be far more complicated if you discover issues or documentation problems with your adoption or arrival to the U.S.
Filed Under: Intercountry Adoptees, Latest News
ABOUT GREGORY D. LUCE
I am a Minnesota lawyer, DC-born adoptee, and the founder of Adoptee Rights Law Center PLLC. I’ve been practicing law in Minnesota state and federal courts since 1993. I also have a sense of humor.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Franceen George says
August 6, 2021 at 2:38 am
Very Interesting.
I am a intercountry adoptee – now a dual citizen of Canada and USA.
I was purchased for $10,000 USD by my adoptive parents in the Montreal Black Market Baby Ring of Sarah Weiman at the infamous 4221 Ave Laval, Montreal location. My adoptive father (a Dr. from NJ) testified to the Senate Committee on Juvenile Delinquency in 1955, chaired by Sen Kefauver. (Known as the Kefauver Hearings). He did so under an alias and from behind a curtain since his life was believed to be in danger for being a whistle blower. He aided the criminal investigation into such adoptions with the FBI and RCMP. They broke up the ring, but no punishment was ever rendered since there was the “international law” confusion/issues.
I have an OBC which states “born of unknown parents: and an Adoptive BC showing my adoptive parents as birth parents, a Canadian Passport which my adoptive parents used to bring me to USA at 9 days old, with a (I believe to be) fake “interim order for adoption” signed by a judge who was later fired for issuing 12 such orders illegally, a final order for adoption from the Montreal Superior Court. Since it was 1951, civil registers of births were not kept, only the Catholic Church and other religious organizations. My birth was supposedly registered at the Pinsker Shul, Jewish Temple of Montreal, but they have no record of it. Everyone in the process was paid off, said my father. The Rabbi, several lawyers (Bernstein was name of Montreal Lawyer), the Judge who issued the interim adoption order, the Baby Ring leader, Sarah Weiman and her Courrier Mr Harry Adoptee Rights Law CenterADOPTEE RIGHTS LAW CENTERLegal representation and advocacy for adult adopted peopleMENU
FAQ: U.S. Citizenship for Intercountry Adoptees
Last updated on February 12, 2023
Questions and answers about US citizenship for intercountry adoptees, including how Congress could fix the problem.
Is this information up to date?
Yes. But keep in mind that, when I talk about the Adoptee Citizenship Act, it currently refers to bills that have been introduced in the past to fix the problem of intercountry adoptees who are without US citizenship. The Adoptee Citizenship Act has not yet been reintroduced in the current Congress, and it’s not fully known if it will be.
What’s the current law and what’s wrong with it?
The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (known as the “CCA”) generally controls whether or not an intercountry adoptee to the United State automatically acquires U.S. citizenship. The CCA went into effect on February 27, 2001, and it ensured automatic citizenship to intercountry adoptees who were fully and finally adopted—but only if they were younger than 18 years of age at the time of the law’s effective date. That is, an intercountry adoptee who was 18 years of age on February 27, 2001, is excluded from the law and has not been eligible for automatic U.S. citizenship under current law. Thousands of intercountry adoptees—most of whom were born before 1983—did not then and still do not qualify today for automatic U.S. citizenship. Many may still lack U.S. citizenship today, and some intercountry adoptees may not even know they lack citizenship. Worse, dozens of adoptees have been deported to their countries of origin and others live in the U.S. under removal orders, subject to deportation at anytime.
What is Congress doing to fix this problem?
Congress has tried to fix this by introducing the Adoptee Citizenship Act each Congressional session since 2015. The Act, however, has never passed nor has it even received a hearing. The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 was the latest bill, but it died in the 117th Congress.
What was the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021?
The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021—sometimes called ACA or ACA21 for short—were two identical bills in the U.S. 117th Congress: HR1593 and S967. These bills, like those before them, would have amended U.S. immigration law to repeal a loophole that has operated to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to thousands of intercountry adoptees who were adopted by U.S. citizen parents, some more than sixty years ago. While most people presume that children adopted by U.S. citizen parents receive automatic U.S. citizenship when they are adopted, this is not true for many intercountry adoptees. Many are now adults and do not have U.S. citizenship, like Monica Ross.
My Name is Monica Ross
Monica Ross was adopted from Germany in 1960 by a U.S. soldier and his spouse. She found out only a few years ago that she was a not a U.S. citizen. Here’s her story, and her request.
How would an Adoptee Citizenship Act address the current problems?
While prior bills have addressed several issues in current immigration law, the primary issue relates to the date of birth of intercountry adoptees. The ACA, as introduced in past, would provide automatic citizenship to intercountry adoptees no matter their age of birth, provided they meet the other requirements of the law. The provision in the ACA that eliminates the age requirement states that automatic citizenship would apply to intercountry adoptees “regardless of the date on which the adoption was finalized.” Other issues, however, may still prevent acquisition of US citizenship.
Does the Adoptee Citizenship Act resolve all the issues intercountry adoptees have with securing U.S. citizenship?
No. Even if the ACA was enacted last session in its introduced form, there are generally two groups of people that the bill did not completely address:
People who were not fully and finally adopted in either their country of origin or in the United States. In other words, the person’s adoption was never legally finalized. The vast majority of these adoptees are those who entered the United States on an IR-4 visa and were not adopted in the United States before the age of 16.
Adoptees who have been deported. While the ACA addresses situations where an adoptee has already been deported, the path to citizenship for these adoptees is often more difficult.
There are a few other exceptions that relate more to general immigration law and not specifically to the Adoptee Citizenship Act or to the Child Citizenship Act. The most prominent of those issues relates to adoptees who cannot prove that they were lawfully admitted into the United States. That is a very complex issue and difficult to resolve with or without the proposed bill.
Hold on. Intercountry adoptees have been deported? How did that happen?
Though the exact number of intercountry adoptees who have been deported from the United States is not known, it is presumed to be at least fifty, and we learn of new deportations each year. Generally, adoptees have been deported because: 1) they were never provided U.S. citizenship and thus did not obtain the benefits and privileges of citizenship; and 2) they committed a crime that led to their deportation. In at least one case, the U.S. government has begun efforts to remove an intercountry adoptee not because of criminal activity but because the adoptee could not prove that she entered the country legally, despite having been adopted by U.S. citizen parents.
I’m an intercountry adoptee who has been deported. Will the Adoptee Citizenship Act help me?
Maybe. It will depend on whether a new bill addresses this situation. In the past the ACA included provisions that provided some protection and rights for previously deported intercountry adoptees, though additional hurdles were involved in returning to the U.S. and acquiring U.S. citizenship upon that return. Under the language of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 (now dead), intercountry adoptees who had been removed from the United States (i.e., deported) had a path to return to the United States to secure citizenship and remain in the country as U.S. citizens. Returning to the U.S. under the 2021 version of the ACA would have required applying for and being issued an immigrant visa. The bill would have made deportees eligible to apply for and receive a visa, despite prior criminal convictions that led to their deportation. Nevertheless, to obtain that visa, the person must have:
undergone a criminal background check;
“resolved” any prior criminal activity that may be disclosed in the criminal background check. What is meant by “resolved” in the bill is not clear but it would likely involve discretion on the part of the government to determine the appropriateness of issuing a visa for a deported adoptee.
If the deported intercountry adoptee obtains a visa and enters the United States on that visa, he or she would become a U.S. citizen automatically upon admission to the country, at least under the prior draft of the ACA.
I’m an intercountry adoptee without citizenship in the United States, and I also have a criminal record. Will that prevent me from becoming a citizen under the ACA?
Under the most recent version of the ACA, you would have become a citizen even though you have a criminal record, so long as you meet the requirements of the law. I have represented intercountry adoptees who have criminal records but are citizens under the current Child Citizenship Act. The criminal record had no bearing on securing a Certificate of Citizenship, though a criminal record in some instances may be used to deny issuance of a U.S. passport.
I’m an intercountry adoptee and I came to the country on a tourist visa when I was a child. Will the ACA help me?
Generally, and without knowing more specific information about the entry and other circumstances of your adoption, the answer will always depend on the text in any bill. Basically, it’s what lawyers often say when they don’t know: it depends.
It has been my position that the last version of the ACA would help you—unless it is amended or interpreted differently. The 2021 did not specifically require the adoptee to be a legal permanent resident, as is currently required under the Child Citizenship Act (legal permanent resident, or LPR, is the status a person obtains when they are admitted to the U.S. on an immigrant visa, such as an IR-3 or IR-4 visa, discussed below). Rather, the 2021 ACA required that the adoptee be residing in the U.S. “pursuant to a lawful admission” at the time of the enactment of the ACA—so long as they meet any other requirements of the ACA, such as a final adoption. The term “lawful admission,” as used in the ACA, would include those who entered lawfully but who may not currently be legal permanent residents. That is, it should include those who entered lawfully on both immigrant or non-immigrant visas, such as visitor/tourist visas. But whether this will remain in a future bill is difficult to predict.
I’m an intercountry adoptee without citizenship. If the ACA is ever enacted, what happens next?
Good question. Though the ACA as previously drafted would confer “automatic” citizenship to intercountry adoptees, it doesn’t mean you’ll automatically receive a Certificate of Citizenship or a U.S. passport in the mail. Unless some other approach is taken as a result of the ACA being enacted (and assuming it is enacted), it is likely that anyone who qualifies for citizenship under the ACA will need to apply for and receive proof of that citizenship, typically in the form of a Certificate of Citizenship.
Obtaining a Certificate of Citizenship requires submitting a form N-600 and supporting documentation, plus paying the filing fee, which is currently $1,170.00 (and likely to increase substantially in the future). Obtaining a passport is faster, far cheaper, and may be easier, depending on the documentation you have. A U.S. passport, however, can be revoked or denied for reasons unrelated to citizenship status (e.g., failure to pay child support, significant tax debts, outstanding felony warrants). Generally, whether you are applying for a U.S. passport or a Certificate of Citizenship, you will need to have the following documents available:
Final decree or judgment of adoption, including a certified translation if a foreign decree is not in English;
Evidence of physical presence in the United States (often satisfied with school enrollment records);
Proof of lawful permanent residence in the United States (e.g., a green card)
Additional General Questions
I have a dumb question that I’m afraid to ask. Who are intercountry adoptees and how many live in the United States?
An intercountry adopted person (or adoptee) is a person who is born in one country and legally adopted by a citizen or citizens of another country. Some people also use the term transnational adoptee. Within the intercountry adoptee community, there may be many other terms of self-identification, including transracial, transcultural, and country-specific identifiers. FWIW, since the mid-1950s, considered the beginning of sustained intercountry adoption to the United States, hundreds of thousands of children have come to the United States as intercountry adoptees, with more than 200,000 children arriving in the United States in the last twenty years.
Are intercountry adoptees considered immigrants?
Yes. Under United States law, intercountry adoptees are treated as immigrants for citizenship purposes and must “immigrate” to the United States by entering the country with an immigrant visa. Those visas, which relate to adoption, are known by the following visa codes: IR-3, IH-3, IR-4, and IH-4 visas. The most common visas today are IR-3/IH-3, and IR-4/IH-4, and adoptions from many years ago may have been assigned a visa category that is no longer in use. The prefix IH in the visa codes refers to the fact that the adoption was under the auspices of the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (usually called “the Hague Convention” in the context of adoption).
What’s the difference between an IR-3 and an IR-4 visa?
The difference is generally where the adoption occurs. An IR-3 visa generally means that the person has been adopted fully and finally in the adoptee’s country of origin. That is, a judgment or decree of adoption was issued by a court or tribunal in the country where the child was born. An IR-4 means that there was no full and final adoption in the country of origin and that the child immigrated to the United States “for the purpose of adoption.” With IR-4 visas, the prospective adoptive parent or parents are generally appointed as the child’s legal guardian until the adoption is finalized in the United States.
Unfortunately, some prospective adoptive parents never finalize the adoption in the United States and the child does not acquire citizenship. They remain permanent legal residents and cannot vote, cannot obtain certain benefits, and are subject to deportation or removal from the country if they commit a removable offense. Once an adult, the only option to become a citizen is to naturalize, provided that they have the documentation and do not have anything on their record that would prevent securing citizenship. Even today, intercountry adoptee children admitted on an IR-4 visa and who have not yet been adopted in a state court, may become an adult without acquiring U.S. citizenship. They would then need to naturalize.
Is anyone monitoring IR-4 visas to make sure the child’s adoption is finalized in the United States?
No. I am not aware of any formal oversight by the U.S. government, adoption agencies, or state child welfare departments in monitoring IR-4 visas to assure that the child who immigrates to the U.S. is ultimately adopted in a state court, nor are there current laws in place to compel a parent (who is not yet legally the adoptive parent) to finalize the adoption in state court. Since 2002, more than 50,000 children have entered the United States on IR-4/IH-4 visas, and it is unknown how many of them have ultimately been adopted in state court.
The use of IR-4 immigrant visas “for the purpose of adoption” does not assure the child will ever be adopted. The use of such visas—in conjunction with the failure to finalize the adoption—will likely remain a loophole in current law even if the ACA is enacted. It also has significant legal and social ramifications, such as:
illegal or unregulated “rehoming” of children. In addition to increasing the chances of a non-citizen child being trafficked, when a child is “rehomed” or placed illegally or informally with another family, the child essentially loses the ability gain automatic citizenship through adoption. The child, as an adult, will likely face problems with citizenship status later in life and could be subject to deportation, something that would not be possible had the child’s adoption been finalized.
legal exemptions that relate to voting and false claims of citizenship. Normally, if a person who is not a US citizen votes or obtains a benefit through a false claim of U.S. citizenship, that person can be denied U.S. citizenship later. A specific exemption exists, however, for people who reasonably believe they were citizens when they voted or claimed U.S. citizenship. This exemption applies only if they are the children of US citizens, whether natural born or adoptive children. Such an exemption may not apply if the adoption was never finalized, though there are arguments to get around this.
I’m not sure I am a U.S. citizen. How do I find out?
Knowing you are a citizen and proving you are a citizen are two different things. Let’s take the second one, which is fairly easy to explain: proof of citizenship. There are generally four documents you can use to prove U.S. citizenship:
A government-issued certificate of birth showing you were born in the United States;
A U.S. passport;
A Certificate of Naturalization;
A Certificate of Citizenship.
If you have one of these documents, then you have proof (and also knowledge) that you are a U.S. citizen.
If you do not have any of these documents and do not even have a copy of one, then you will need to determine what documents exist to help prove citizenship. To do that you will need to either find one of these documents or find the documents you need through a request to the Department of State or the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). My suggestion would be to contact an attorney to help. Solutions may be as easy as making a request for your records to the USCIS, but the solution could be far more complicated if you discover issues or documentation problems with your adoption or arrival to the U.S.
Filed Under: Intercountry Adoptees, Latest News
ABOUT GREGORY D. LUCE
I am a Minnesota lawyer, DC-born adoptee, and the founder of Adoptee Rights Law Center PLLC. I’ve been practicing law in Minnesota state and federal courts since 1993. I also have a sense of humor.
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Comments
Franceen George says
Hello everyone 🙏
Please help, all Adoptees & Pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act, it will grant automatic citizenship to all adoptees. It will close the loophole left by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 by ensuring the long-awaited inclusion of all qualifying intercountry adoptees adopted by U.S. citizen parents, regardless of their date of birth.
Abandonment shadows adoptees’ lives and often becomes one of their deepest traumas, forcing them to grapple with the accumulated loss of family, culture, language, and community. They already experienced abandonment by their birth countries. However, when adopted to the United States, they were given a new life and identity. By denying these adoptees citizenship and deporting them, the U.S. government abandons them once again after promising them a better life in America and the same rights as any biologically born child. We believe intercountry adoptees should not be denied citizenship, detained or deported because multiple parties overlooked, neglected, or failed to take action to obtain citizenship for them. Please Help Us All United States Legal Adoptees, come home. 🙏😭👪🏡🇺🇲💕
Reply
GUEST says
Please don’t forget about us Legal Adoptees!!! Please help pass the Adoptee Citizenship Act, it will grant automatic citizenship to all adoptees.🙏🙏 It will close the loophole left by the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 by ensuring the long-awaited inclusion of all qualifying intercountry adoptees adopted by U.S. citizen parents, regardless of their date of birth.👪
Abandonment shadows adoptees’ lives and often becomes one of their deepest traumas, forcing them to grapple with the accumulated loss of family, culture, language, and community. They already experienced abandonment by their birth countries. However, when adopted to the United States, they were given a new life and identity. By denying these adoptees citizenship and deporting them, the U.S. government abandons them once again after promising them a better life in America and the same rights as any biologically born child. We believe intercountry adoptees should not be denied citizenship, detained or deported because multiple parties overlooked, neglected, or failed to take action to obtain citizenship for them.🙏😭👪🏡🇺🇲💕
Crapser’s lawsuit cited the government as responsible for allowing adoptions to be controlled by profit-driven agencies that ran on fees collected from foreign parents, and also for allowing foreigners to adopt children without actually coming to South Korea, which he blames for screening failures that matched him with abusive parents.
Good for Him,🙏
His case also highlights the shaky legal status of many South Korean adoptees in the United States whose parents may have failed to get them citizenship, potentially leaving them vulnerable to deportation if they acquire a criminal record
Happy he won lawsuit! It’s so wrong, leaving abandoning, legal adopted citizens, who lived whole life in US only home they know, Married with children, the hardship, depression, has no price, for Adoptees, and worse for Immediate family living without a parent, knowing they are stuck alone in another country, while all adoptees are citizens living with their families, due to a date😭
These are not adults who were adopted as adults to circumvent the system of immigration,” she said. They are adults who were adopted as children by U.S. citizens. They came into this country legally, and two governments were involved in the exchange.
“It’s an injustice that’s just never been corrected,”
Should be for All Adoptees such as it’s now
I still have HOPE.
All adoptees are legally children of their parents and should be considered US citizens without question