Sponsors
Introduced January 15, 2025 by Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen · Last progress January 15, 2025
The bill expands and simplifies paths to U.S. citizenship for residents and children in outlying possessions—reducing travel and cost barriers—while introducing documentary burdens for long absences, potential reductions in in-person safeguards, and additional administrative costs.
People born in U.S. outlying possessions who are U.S. nationals can naturalize without meeting certain English, civics, and continuous-residence testing requirements, making citizenship attainable for long-term territory residents.
Applicants residing in outlying possessions can complete applications, interviews, oath ceremonies, and other naturalization steps locally, reducing travel time and costs.
Children who are present and residing in outlying possessions become eligible for naturalization pathways under section 322, expanding protections and stability for youth and their families in territories.
Applicants who depart an outlying possession for more than 180 continuous days risk losing continuous-residence eligibility unless they can document non-abandonment, adding documentary burdens that could disqualify some applicants.
Allowing DHS to waive personal interviews for some applicants could reduce procedural safeguards and limit opportunities to resolve issues in person, increasing risk of errors or unjust denials.
Streamlining naturalization for nationals (but not citizens) may increase DHS administrative workload and require new resources, potentially delaying other processing and increasing costs for taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows certain United States nationals (non-citizens) who have lived continuously in any State or any U.S. outlying possession from birth until approval of their naturalization application to naturalize without meeting the English requirement and some civics and residence testing requirements. It also requires the Department of Homeland Security to provide naturalization application processing services in outlying possessions for these applicants and for certain other applicants who reside there, clarifies how long absences affect continuous residence, and gives the Secretary discretion to waive interviews or reduce application fees for the covered applicants. The bill also amends the definition of "child" for naturalization to treat a child as qualifying if present and residing in an outlying possession, expanding eligibility for certain derivative or child naturalization paths. No explicit new appropriations or tax changes are included; operational changes are left to DHS discretion.