22 U.S.C. § 212b
Unique passport identifiers for covered sex offenders
United States · Title 22 — FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE · Status: effective
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- Citation
- 22 U.S.C. § 212b, Unique passport identifiers for covered sex offenders, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/454975
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Full text
Immediately after receiving a written determination from the Angel Watch Center that an individual is a covered sex offender, through the process developed for that purpose under section 21507 of title 34, the Secretary of State shall take appropriate action under subsection (b).
Except as provided under paragraph (2), the Secretary of State shall not issue a passport to a covered sex offender unless the passport contains a unique identifier, and may revoke a passport previously issued without such an identifier of a covered sex offender.
Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Secretary of State may reissue a passport that does not include a unique identifier if an individual described in subsection (a) reapplies for a passport and the Angel Watch Center provides a written determination, through the process developed for that purpose under section 21507 of title 34, to the Secretary of State that the individual is no longer required to register as a covered sex offender.
An individual may not be issued or reissued a passport without a unique identifier solely because the individual has moved or otherwise resides outside the United States.
In this section—
the term “covered sex offender” means an individual who—
The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Attorney General, and their agencies, officers, employees, and agents, shall not be liable to any person for any action taken under this section.
In furtherance of this section, the Secretary of State may require a passport applicant to disclose that they are a registered sex offender.
This section shall take effect upon certification by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Attorney General, that the process developed and reported to the appropriate congressional committees under section 21507 of title 34 has been successfully implemented.
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.
- William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- International Megan's Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex OffendersHouse: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act of 2022House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally