FAQs
What is the Adoptee Citizenship Act?
The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024 (H.R.8617& S.4448) will grant U.S. citizenship to all individuals who were internationally adopted into the U.S. before the age of 18.
Why do we need an Adoptee Citizenship Act?
Thousands of people who were adopted as infants and children from overseas (intercountry adoption) do not have U.S. citizenship due to a loophole in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA).
The CCA of 2000 only granted automatic citizenship to adoptees who were 18 years of age at the time of its passing. This arbitrary age cutoff has left adoptees born before February 27, 1983 in danger of deportation and unable to fully participate in American life, despite the fact they were legally adopted and raised by U.S. citizen parents.
How did this happen?
There are several reasons these adoptees slipped through the cracks. The problem is the result of a range of responsible parties, including government entities, adoption agencies, lawyers, and adoptive parents. In no case is the failure to naturalize the fault of the child.
In some cases, parents assumed their children were automatically granted citizenship by virtue of their adoptions, as a fundamental principle of adoption law is that “the rights and status of an adopted child are the same as those of a natural child.” Parents may thus have believed the same principle applied to federal citizenship laws or were misled by adoption agencies.
How does this impact adoptees without citizenship?
The most immediate and dire consequence of this loophole is that, without the citizenship they are due, these adoptees are deportable by law. Some have already been deported for criminal offenses committed in their pasts, for which they have served their time. Without citizenship, most international adoptees are also inappropriately subject to the laws governing non-citizen, legally present immigrants.
Through no fault of their own, the threat of deportability hinders their ability to participate in American life to the full extent possible. The vast majority of these adoptees’ families and support networks are in the United States, where they have lived for almost their entire lives.
Adoptees without citizenship cannot freely apply for jobs, work for the government, vote, drive, participate in jury duty, receive social security benefits, enroll in certain government programs, or travel abroad, like they should. An international adoptee is brought to the country as an infant or child under the presumption that they will receive the same treatment as one naturally born to a U.S. citizen parent on American soil. Yet, current law has robbed these individuals of this right, thereby necessitating the swift passage of the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2021 to amend this oversight.
How many intercountry adoptees have been deported?
There are no exact numbers, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security does not track whether an individual is an intercountry adoptee in the course of their deportation. Yet, based on what is known about the size of the international adoptee population, a very small segment of adoptees without citizenship have been deported. The non-profit organization Adoptees for Justice knows of 50 such cases as of 2020.
Can adoptees without citizenship receive public benefits?
This depends on the service. U.S. Social Security benefits may be available to noncitizens by virtue of their employment, as “[m]ost U.S. jobs are covered under Social Security.” Benefits such as federal student aid may also be available, although the process for obtaining them may be more difficult for adoptees without citizenship.
Limiting and adding more requirements to receive public benefits is inappropriate when applied to the context of a child who was legally adopted from another country as an infant or child and was never provided citizenship.
What visas were used to bring intercountry adoptees to the U.S.?
Visas adoptive parents used to bring their children over included immediate relative visas IR-3 and IR-4. An IR-3 was issued when an adoption was completed abroad. It required that the parent (if unmarried), or at least one parent (if married), physically saw the child prior to or during the adoption proceedings. An IR-4 visa was issued when a child was coming to the U.S. for adoption. It was required for children adopted abroad by only one parent (if married), who were not seen by the parent(s) prior to or during their adoption.
After 2008, these also included permanent resident visas IH-3 and IH-4. An IH-3 was issued for children with final adoptions from a Hague Convention country. And IH-4 was issued for a child who came to the U.S. from a Hague Convention country to be adopted.
Whether or not a child arrives on an IR 3/IH 3 visa or an IR 4/IH 4 visa, they are screened for suitability for international adoption, and his or her prospective adoptive parents are screened for their suitability to adopt.
In addition, some adoptees may have entered on non-immigrant visas or by parole. This would not be reflected in the U.S. Department of State adoption statistics.