Sponsors
The bill clarifies and expands passport labeling options for non‑citizen nationals—improving documentation and choice—while trading off potential traveler confusion, cross‑agency and international inconsistencies, and modest short‑term administrative costs.
U.S. non‑citizen nationals (including residents of U.S. territories) will be able to obtain passports that accurately reflect their status and may, on request, be identified as both 'national' and 'citizen', improving travel documentation and personal identification options for these populations.
Clarifying the State Department's authority and passport procedures should reduce administrative delays and appeals, streamlining processing for applicants and lowering paperwork burdens for federal staff.
People whose passports are labeled 'national, but not a citizen' may face confusion, increased scrutiny, or difficulty when traveling or accessing services abroad because that designation is nonstandard in some countries and contexts.
Allowing passports to identify holders as both 'national' and 'citizen' on request could create inconsistencies in recordkeeping and legal-status recognition across U.S. agencies and foreign governments, complicating verification and benefits/rights determinations.
Repealing 8 U.S.C. §1436 may remove an existing statutory reference and require administrative interpretation, generating short-term implementation costs and workload for the State Department.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Secretary of State to issue U.S. passports to people who are U.S. nationals but not U.S. citizens, and creates two passport labeling options: (1) a passport that identifies the holder as a “national, but not a citizen,” or (2) if the applicant signs a written request and lives in a State or certain territories, a passport identifying the holder as both a national and a citizen. The bill also updates the statutory heading for passport procedures for non‑citizen nationals and repeals a prior statute (8 U.S.C. §1436). No funding, implementation timeline, or effective date is specified in the text provided.
Introduced November 7, 2025 by Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen · Last progress November 7, 2025