Child Citizenship Act of 2000

Child Citizenship Act of 2000
Long title	An Act To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify the provisions governing acquisition of citizenship by children born outside of the United States, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 106th United States Congress
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 106–395 (text) (PDF)
Statutes at Large	114 Stat. 1631
Legislative history
	Introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 2883 by Lamar Smith (R–TX) on September 21, 1999; Committee consideration by House Judiciary; Passed the House of Representatives on September 19, 2000 (unanimous consent); Passed the Senate on October 12, 2000 (unanimous consent); Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 30, 2000;

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA) is a United States federal law that amended the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 regarding acquisition of citizenship by children of United States citizens. Under the CCA, certain children born outside the United States who did not obtain citizenship at birth may obtain citizenship automatically after being admitted to the United States as legal permanent residents (CCA § 101) or may be eligible for expeditious naturalization (CCA § 102).

The act also added protections for non-citizens who had voted in federal elections on the reasonable but mistaken belief that they were United States citizens at the time they voted, or that they had falsely claimed to be United States citizens in the past because they reasonably believed they were United States citizens at the time of the false claim (CCA § 201).

The Act is known as Public Law 106-395. CCA § 101 is implemented in INA § 320, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1431. CCA § 102 is implemented in INA § 322, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1433. The CCA modified INA §§ 101(f), 212(a)(10)(D), 212(a)(6)(C), 237(a)(6), and 237(a)(3)(D); 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f), 1182(a)(10)(D), 1182(a)(6)(C), 1227(a)(6), and 1227(a)(3)(D). The CCA also modified 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 1015.