Child Citizenship Act of 2000

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the Child Citizenship Act of 2000?

A: The "Child Citizenship Act of 2000" became effective on February 27, 2001. This law greatly streamlines the process by which foreign-born children of U.S. citizen parents can become U.S. citizens when they did not acquire citizenship at birth.

The Child Citizenship Act, which applies to both adopted and biological children of U.S. citizens, amends Section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to provide for the automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship when certain conditions have been met.

Q: What are the conditions for a child to acquire U.S. citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act?

A: The conditions are:

1. One parent is a U.S. citizen by birth or through naturalization;
2. The child is under the age of 18;
3. The child is residing in the United States as a lawful permanent resident alien and is in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent; and
4. If the child is adopted, the adoption must be final.

Q: Why was the Child Citizenship Act created?

A: Under previous law, internationally adopted children of a U.S. citizen did not automatically become citizens upon their admission into the United States as immigrants. Parents of these children were compelled, after having already completed the rigorous immigrant visa process, to apply to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for a Certificate of Citizenship. This process could take months, if not years.

Similarly, some foreign-born biological children of U.S. citizen parents were unable to acquire U.S. citizenship at birth because their parents did not meet the legal requirements for transmission of citizenship. While the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 does not alter these transmission requirements, it does provide for the automatic conferral of U.S. citizenship on these children once the first three criteria (listed above) have been met.

Q: What is the time frame for acquisition of U.S. citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act?

A: Children under the age of 18 who had already fulfilled the above 4 conditions acquired U.S. citizenship automatically on February 27, 2001. Children who have not yet fulfilled these conditions will acquire U.S. citizenship on the day the last of these criteria has been met, provided that the child is still under the age of 18.

Q: Why is this law important? What benefit does it have to U.S. citizens and their families?

A: This law is important because it eases the process the U.S. citizen parent must go through in order to gain U.S. citizenship for his/her foreign-born child. It also addresses the problem faced by families when a foreign-born child becomes subject to removal from the United States. Under prior law, foreign-born adopted children, in particular, could be subject to removal if they did not acquire U.S. citizenship after being brought to the United States-even if they had lived in the U.S. since infancy. While this Act does not remedy past cases in which such children were deported, it will ensure that this unfortunate possibility will be eliminated for most noncitizen adopted children under the age of 18 and all noncitizen children adopted by U.S. citizens into a household in the U.S. in the future.