H.R. 5492

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5492 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5492

To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for 
certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 18, 2025

Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself and Mr. Bacon) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To provide for automatic acquisition of United States citizenship for 
certain internationally adopted individuals, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Adoptees and American 
Families Act'' or the ``PAAF Act''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR CERTAIN INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED 
INDIVIDUALS.

Section 320(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1431(b)) is amended to read as follows:
``(b) Adopted Children of Citizen Parent.--
``(1) In general.--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 
subparagraph (E), (F), or (G) of section 101(b)(1), regardless 
of the date on which the adoption was finalized.
``(2) Limited application to certain adopted individuals 
residing in the united states.--Notwithstanding section 318, an 
individual born outside of the United States who was adopted by 
a United States citizen parent shall automatically become a 
citizen of the United States when all of the following 
conditions have been fulfilled:
``(A) The individual was adopted by a United States 
citizen before the individual reached 18 years of age.
``(B) The individual was physically present in the 
United States in the legal custody of the citizen 
parent pursuant to a lawful admission before the 
individual reached 18 years of age.
``(C) The individual never acquired United States 
citizenship before the date of the enactment of the 
Protect Adoptees and American Families Act.
``(D) The individual was residing in the United 
States on the date of the enactment of the Protect 
Adoptees and American Families Act pursuant to a lawful 
admission.
``(3) Limited application to certain adopted individuals 
residing outside of the united states.--
``(A) In general.--An individual who meets all of 
the criteria described in paragraph (2) except for 
subparagraph (D) shall automatically become a citizen 
of the United States on the date on which the 
individual is physically present in the United States 
pursuant to a lawful admission.
``(B) Inapplicability of grounds of 
inadmissibility.--The grounds of inadmissibility set 
forth in section 212(a) shall not apply to an 
individual described in subparagraph (A) who is seeking 
admission to the United States.
``(C) Criminal background check.--Notwithstanding 
subparagraphs (A) and (B), an individual described in 
subparagraph (A) may not be issued a visa unless--
``(i) the individual was subjected to a 
criminal background check; and
``(ii) if the background check conducted 
pursuant to clause (i) reveals that the 
individual has committed a crime that was not 
properly resolved, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security and the Secretary of State coordinated 
with relevant law enforcement agencies to 
ensure that appropriate action is taken to 
resolve such criminal activity.''.
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