According to the Adoptee Rights Campaign, as many as 49,000 intercountry adoptees adopted as children by American parents lack U.S. citizenship, with a significant percentage of affected adoptees being Korean American. Although these adoptees were raised as Americans their entire life, they are deprived of their basic rights as U.S. citizens to vote in elections, receive government services, and face the constant risk of family separation and deportation.
The lack of U.S. citizenship for tens of thousands intercountry adoptees stems from the Child Citizenship Act which was passed in 2000 to retroactively and automatically grant citizenship to the impacted population. However, a last minute addition of an age limit to limit the eligibility to those under the age of 18, excluded intercountry adoptees born before Feb. 28, 1983, who are now at least 41 years old as of 2024.
The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024 (H.R. 8617, S. 4448) was introduced on June 4th, 2024 to close this loophole and establish a permanent, legislative solution for the intercountry adoptees from having to needlessly undergo an arduous and uncertain naturalization process
[June 2024] Office of Rep. Adam Smith - Reps. Smith and Bacon and Sens. Hirono and Collins Lead Bipartisan, Bicameral Legislation
[July 2023] DeseretNews - 46 years after adoption, this Korean adoptee obtained U.S. citizenship. Now she’s advocating to update the law
[February 2023] Adoptee Rights Law Center - Latest on Citizenship for Intercountry Adoptees
[February 2022] Office of Rep. Adam Smith - House of Representatives Passes Rep. Smith’s Adoptee Citizenship Act
[January 2020] FOX - Reps. Gomez & Woodall: Korean American Day – Let's skip the politics. Congress needs to take these actions
[November 2019] The Hill - Congress left international adoptees behind: It's time we fix it
[February 2019] NBC Washington - Tens of Thousands of Adoptees Learn They Aren’t US Citizens, Even After Decades Living Here
Why do intercountry adoptees lack citizenship?
Intercountry adoptees born on or before Feb. 28th, 1983 (41 years or older as of 2024) were not granted automatic citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 due to a loophole that excluded adoptees who have reached or past the age of 18. In many cases, these non-U.S. citizen adoptees do not find out about their citizenship status until much later in life when they go to apply for a U.S. passport for international travel or undergo a secure background check. If the adoptee had already reached adulthood at the time of the discovery, they are forced to undergo the complex and lengthy process of naturalization despite having permanently residing in America under U.S. citizen parent(s).
Despite being adopted by U.S. citizen parent(s), there are instances where although the overseas adoptees arrived on an immigrant visa, their adoption may not have been finalized upon arrival or the naturalization process has never started—whether due to misinformation, ill-advice, or negligence on the part of the adoptive parent(s). Currently, only those who arrive on either IR-3 or IH-3 visa are granted automatic citizenship, as long as the child is under 18 years of age and lives in the U.S. with their parents. Those who arrive on either IR-4 or IH-4 visa are granted automatic citizenship, only after their adoption is finalized after arriving in the U.S.
How many intercountry adoptees lack citizenship?
The Adoptee Rights Campaign (ARC) estimates that there are between 25,000 and 49,000 intercountry adoptees who reach adulthood without U.S. citizenship after being adopted between 1945 and 1998.
How old are impacted adoptees?
The impacted adoptees—intercountry adoptees who lack U.S. citizenship as an adult—are at least 41 years old, having reached adulthood before the day of the Child Citizenship Act's enactment on February 27, 2001.
When did the impacted adoptees find out that they were not U.S. citizens?
The journey of each and every person is different, but many impacted adoptees had not been made aware about their need for naturalization until after they had reached adulthood. Examples of stories that have been courageously shared include one by an affected adoptee who found out that she wasn't a U.S. citizen just days before her unit's deployment to Iraq, and another adoptee who discovered the fact when applying for a passport.
What are the hardships facing non-citizen intercountry adoptees?
Foreign-born adoptees who lack of U.S. citizenship face numerous economic, social and psychological challenges on a constant basis:
Risk of family separation and deportation
Renewal of drivers' license and other forms of government ID
Receiving social security, medical care, and legal justice
Disenfranchisement from voting in U.S. elections
Applying for federal loans for education and housing
Applying for jobs
Prohibition from international travel
How can the impacted adoptees naturalize to become U.S. citizens?
The timeline for naturalization varies for every individual but intercountry adoptees may face additional hurdles due to their immigration status. For some foreign-born adoptees, the naturalization process have taken several years and multiple attorneys to obtain the documentation necessary to prove legal residency in the United States, under the physical and legal custody of a U.S. citizen parent.
Individuals must first meet certain requirements to apply for naturalization, such as being at least 18 years old, having a green card for at least five years (3-5 years if living with a U.S. citizen spouse), and residing in the state or USCIS district of where they are applying for three months
Complete and submit Form N-400
Biometrics Appointment
Interview
Naturalization Test
Oath of Allegiance
What is the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024?
The Adoptee Citizenship Act, if enacted, would provide automatic U.S. citizenship to foreign-born children lawfully adopted by U.S. families who turned 18 years old before the effective date of the Child Citizenship Act on February 27th, 2001. Automatic U.S. citizenship applies when these individuals are physically present in the United States based on a lawful admission. For those residing abroad at the time of enactment, they must receive a background check and have any crimes be resolved by the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
What is the Child Citizenship Act of 2000?
Families who adopted children from abroad were previously required to go through a lengthy process to naturalize and gain U.S. citizenship for their adopted children, in addition to the long, costly, and burdensome adoption process. The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 eliminated the need for adoptive families to apply to naturalize their newly-adopted children. This law grants automatic citizenship to all foreign-born children brought to the U.S. under the age of 18 and have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen. It applies to all future adoptees as well as those under the age of 18 who were adopted prior to the law's effective date, February 27th, 2001.
Are there also children adopted from overseas without U.S. citizenship?
Yes, the most common instances are children adoptees who were either victims of human trafficking, brought into the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa, or adopted on the IR-4/IH-4 visa of which their U.S. citizen parents have not finalized the adoption process in their state upon arrival.
What is the difference between IR-3 and IR-4 visas?
IH-3 visas are issued for children with full and final adoptions from a Hague Convention country, whereas IH-4 visas are issued when a child is coming to the U.S. from a Hague Convention country to be adopted.
IR-3 and IR-4 visas are issued for adoptions from Non-Hague countries. IR-3 visas are issued when a full and final adoption is completed abroad, and thus, requires that at least one parent (if married) physically see the child prior to or during the adoption proceedings.
Children with IR-3 or IH-3 visas automatically acquire citizenship if they enter the U.S. prior to their 18th birthday and reside in the U.S. with their parents. IR-4 and IH-4 visas, however, do not grant automatic citizenship upon entry to the U.S. but on the date of their adoption in the U.S., if the adoption occurs before the child's 18th birthday.
Would the Adoptee Citizenship Act give citizenship to those who have been deported?
The Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024, if enacted in its current version, would provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship for eligible adoptees lawfully adopted by U.S. families who currently reside outside of the United States. However, those who have been deported account for less than one-tenth of one percent of the all those born overseas and adopted by American families (512,627 between 1945 and 2016).
Would the Adoptee Citizenship Act give citizenship to those who may abuse the U.S. immigration system?
No. Both the current requirements around intercountry adoption by American families and the purposes of the Adoptee Citizenship Act require that the adoptees have been lawfully admitted to the U.S. at the time of their arrival as children.
It is virtually impossible to exploit this law for immigration purposes unrelated to adoption. Rather, due to the lack of adequate information among and from adoption agencies and the legal community, as well as incongruency between the state and federal laws, there are several cases in which adoptees struggle for equal legal recognition as children that still pose a great challenge to many families today.
Where are the intercountry adoptees adopted from?
According to the Adoptee Rights Campaign, those who have reached adulthood without U.S. citizenship were adopted from Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Russia, Samoa, South Korea, St. Kitts, Thailand, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
What is the National Alliance for Adoptee Equality?
Led by the Korean American Grassroots Conference, Adoptee Rights Campaign, and Holt International, NAAE is a consortium of community organizations, faith-based groups, and adoptee advocates who came together to further raise awareness of the issue and advocate for a permanent, legislative solution on the national level.