8 U.S.C. § 1431
Children born outside the United States and lawfully admitted for permanent residence; conditions under which citizenship automatically acquired
United States · Title 8 — ALIENS AND NATIONALITY · Status: effective
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- Citation
- 8 U.S.C. § 1431, Children born outside the United States and lawfully admitted for permanent residence; conditions under which citizenship automatically acquired, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/431968
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Full text
A child born outside of the United States automatically becomes a citizen of the United States when all of the following conditions have been fulfilled:
Subsection (a) shall apply to a child adopted by a United States citizen parent if the child satisfies the requirements applicable to adopted children under section 1101(b)(1) of this title.
Subsection (a)(3) is deemed satisfied in the case of a child who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States if—
the child is residing in the legal and physical custody of a citizen parent who is—
the child is—
residing in the legal and physical custody of a citizen parent who is—
A Certificate of Citizenship or other Federal document issued or requested to be amended under this section shall reflect the child’s name and date of birth as indicated on a State court order, birth certificate, certificate of foreign birth, certificate of birth abroad, or similar State vital records document issued by the child’s State of residence in the United States after the child has been adopted or readopted in that State.
Legislative history
The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone. The law that originally enacted this section predates the public laws loaded here, so only later amendments are listed.
- A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to facilitate the admission into the United States of more than two adopted children, and to provide for the expeditious naturalization of adopted children.House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1981House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1986House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Immigration Technical Corrections Act of 1988House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Child Citizenship Act of 2000House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Accuracy for Adoptees ActHouse: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants ActHouse: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally