Adoptee Rights Law Center

Legal representation and advocacy for adult adopted people

U.S. Citizenship

All intercountry adoptees in the United States must have the security of U.S. citizenship as well as the documents to prove it.

I represent intercountry adoptees who, as children, were adopted by U.S. citizen parents. Despite being adopted as children, many intercountry adoptees continue to have significant issues with US citizenship today. Those issues include:

  1. Securing U.S. Citizenship. Tens of thousands of intercountry adoptees today do not have US citizenship, despite being adopted as children by US citizen parents.
  2. Proving U.S. Citizenship. Even if intercountry adoptees have acquired U.S. citizenship automatically under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, many don’t have proof of that citizenship, either through a US passport or a Certificate of Citizenship.

Both issues are fraught with difficulty and may come with life-altering repercussions. Making it worse, U.S. law currently excludes older intercountry adoptees—those born prior to March 1983—from acquiring citizenship through adoption. Instead, they must often go through a long and expensive immigration process to naturalize as U.S. citizens. As adults today, they are considered immigrants, and are subject to deportation if they commit a crime or are not found to be in the country properly. This is fundamentally wrong.

FAQ

Questions and answers about US citizenship for intercountry adoptees, including how Congress could fix the problem.

FAQ/INFO

For those who acquired citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, it may not resolve the crucial issue of proving it. If adoptive parents did not take additional steps to obtain a U.S. passport or a Certificate of Citizenship, intercountry adoptees with this issue often face a byzantine and expensive process to prove what they already know and have. For some, it means an inability to work, the inability to obtain basic identification documents, and the denial of benefits and privileges all U.S citizens enjoy. This must be fixed.

While my legal work in most of these cases is low bono or pro bono, adult intercountry adoptees are still often required to pay significant fees to apply for citizenship.

I encourage all adopted people and their allies to support the work of adoptee-led groups that are advocating to change federal law to eliminate the current discriminatory loophole in the CCA. You can do your part today by asking your representatives to support Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024.

Articles about Intercountry Adoptees and Citizenship

What’s an Original Birth Certificate?

Most adopted persons know what an original birth certificate (OBC) is. Many non-adopted people do not. An original birth certificate is the initial birth certificate created shortly after a person's birth. For most people, it is their only birth certificate.

For persons born and adopted in the United States, a new or "amended" birth certificate replaces the OBC once the adoption is final. In addition to replacing the original, the names of the birth parents are also replaced with the names of the adoptive parents. Some states may also alter or omit additional information on a new certificate, including the adoptee's specific place of birth.

Depending on state law, an original birth certificate is sealed and remains unavailable to the adopted person, even when they become an adult. If you are not adopted, your original birth certificate is your only birth certificate---and it is always available to you upon request.