Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4803) to facilitate the automatic acquisition of citizenship for lawful permanent resident children of military and Federal Government personnel residing abroad, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4803
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 ``Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act''. SEC. 2. FACILITATING THE AUTOMATIC ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP FOR LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT CHILDREN OF MILITARY AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL RESIDING ABROAD.
(a) In General.--Section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1431) is amended--
(1) by striking the section header and inserting ``children born outside the united states and lawfully admitted for permanent residence; conditions under which citizenship automatically acquired'';
(2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Subsection (a)(3) is deemed satisfied in the case of a child who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States if--
``(1) the child is residing in the legal and physical custody of a citizen parent who is--
``(A) stationed and residing abroad as an employee of the Government of the United States; or
``(B) residing abroad in marital union with an employee of the Government of the United States who is stationed abroad; or
``(2) the child is--
``(A) residing in the legal and physical custody of a citizen parent who is--
``(i) stationed and residing abroad as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; or
``(ii) authorized to accompany and reside abroad with a member of the Armed Forces of the United States pursuant to the member's official orders, and is so accompanying and residing abroad with the member in marital union; and
``(B) authorized to accompany such member and reside abroad with the member pursuant to the member's official orders, and is so accompanying and residing with the member.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by striking the item relating to section 320 and inserting the following: ``Sec. 320. Children born outside the United States and lawfully admitted for permanent residence; conditions under which citizenship automatically acquired.''. SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 4803, the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act. This bipartisan legislation provides a simple solution to ease the burdens imposed by our current citizenship laws on those who have chosen to serve our Nation abroad, and their children.
Most children who are born outside the United States to U.S. citizen parents are deemed U.S. citizens at birth. But under our current citizenship laws, this process can be more complicated for children whose parents don't meet certain bureaucratic requirements related to residency, a concept that is generally defined according to where one physically resides.
This often affects military families and certain other Federal employees serving abroad. As a result, when establishing U.S. residency is not possible because of a parent's overseas service to the Nation, these families, who make great sacrifices for our country, are at a disadvantage.
Without access to a streamlined citizenship process, parents must either guide their children through a lengthy and expensive naturalization process or find some alternative way to establish U.S. residency, which may even require them to cut short their overseas service commitment to the armed services.
In August, Members on both sides of the aisle were taken aback by the administration's reversal of a 15-year-old policy that allowed families of military servicemembers and Federal Government employees to meet the residency requirement for acquisition of citizenship purposes while serving abroad.
H.R. 4803 will implement a small but important fix to our citizenship laws by restoring and codifying the previous policy and bringing consistency to what were once differing policy provisions between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.
H.R. 4803 will provide greater flexibility to individuals who have dedicated their lives and careers to serving our Nation by treating their children like other children of U.S. citizens who were born overseas, allowing them to be automatically recognized as U.S. citizens once certain conditions are met.
H.R. 4803 will thus eliminate the inconvenience, expense, and delays of the naturalization process that such children are required to undergo under current law and allow their parents to continue serving our Nation in the military without interruption.
I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), my friend and colleague, for partnering with me on this commonsense, bipartisan fix, as well as Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Thornberry, Subcommittee Chair Lofgren, Subcommittee Ranking Member Buck, along with Mr. Gallego and Mr. Lieu. I appreciate their willingness to work across the aisle and to demonstrate that it is possible to find common ground on some immigration and nationality issues.
I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, and I reserve balance of my time.
This bipartisan legislation would provide greater flexibility and support to those who have dedicated their careers to serving our Nation when they have children born abroad.
I again thank my colleagues for the bipartisan nature of the work and support of this bill. I urge all my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4803, the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act.
I applaud Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and House Judiciary Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA) for introducing this bipartisan legislation aimed to fix a problem in current citizenship laws.
The current citizenship law implemented by this Administration in October, serves as a disadvantage to certain children who are born abroad and reside with a parent serving overseas in the military or as a federal government employee.
Under current law, such children are required to establish U.S. residency in order to obtain citizenship, which can be difficult when a parent is stationed overseas.
This small but important change is the necessary fix for U.S. armed forces and in federal government positions overseas.
I am glad we could work together to introduce this bipartisan legislation that provides greater flexibility and support to those who have dedicated their careers to serving our nation.
American citizens who are deployed members of our military or government officials working abroad should have confidence their children will receive U.S. citizenship.
Military families are already making tremendous sacrifices to serve our country abroad and the children should not have to be penalized.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4803 because our military families should not have to deal with the bureaucracy of this Administration for their children to be United States citizens.
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