Sponsor
Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen
Representative · R-AS
The bill improves passport recognition and offers an optional citizen designation for some noncitizen U.S. nationals, but it removes a residence-based path to naturalization and risks causing confusion, stigma, and legal ambiguity for holders and government authorities.
Noncitizen U.S. nationals (e.g., residents of outlying possessions) will have guaranteed access to passports that explicitly recognize their status as 'U.S. national, but not a U.S. citizen,' giving them recognized travel documents.
Noncitizen nationals who reside in a State or specified jurisdictions can request passports identifying them as both 'U.S. national' and 'U.S. citizen,' which may simplify travel, consular assistance, and interactions with officials for those individuals.
Residents of U.S. outlying possessions and noncitizen nationals lose the ability to count residence in those possessions toward the physical presence required for naturalization, removing a pathway to U.S. citizenship for some people.
Allowing passport options that distinguish 'national, but not a citizen' or permit self-identification as a citizen can create legal ambiguity for federal, state, and local authorities, complicating immigration enforcement and benefits administration.
Passport labels that single out holders as 'national, but not a citizen' could cause confusion or stigma for those individuals when dealing with foreign or domestic authorities and service providers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires passports for non‑citizen U.S. nationals and allows certain residents to request passports labeled both U.S. national and U.S. citizen; repeals an outlying‑possession naturalization credit.
Representative · R-AS
Official title: To protect collective self-determination and individual rights under Federal statutes conferring nationality on persons born and residing in the territory of American Samoa, to enable subsequent elective United States citizenship upon application of such persons residing in a State or in a territory subject to sections 301 through 308 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 19, 2025 by Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen · Last progress November 19, 2025
Requires the State Department to issue passports to persons who are U.S. nationals but not U.S. citizens, and allows certain residents (those living in a State or specified territories covered by sections 301–308) to request a passport that labels them as both a U.S. national and a U.S. citizen. It also repeals a provision that previously treated residence in outlying possessions as qualifying physical presence for naturalization of noncitizen nationals and updates statutory headings and table of contents language for the passport provision.