On October 25, 2004, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Fact Sheet regarding the Child Citizenship Act (CCA) of 2000. The law (P.L.106-395) was signed into law on October 30, 2000 and became effective on February 27, 2001. The purpose of this law was to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) "to permit foreign-born children - including adopted children - to acquire citizenship automatically if they meet certain requirements."

What are these requirements? The child must meet the definition of "child" for naturalization purposes under immigration law, AND:

• The child has at least one United States citizen parent (by birth or naturalization);
• The child is under 18 years of age;
• The child is currently residing permanently in the U.S. in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent;
• The child has been admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident or has been adjusted to this status;
• An adopted child must also meet the requirements applicable to the particular provision under which they qualified for admission as an adopted child under immigration law.

Children of U.S. Armed Forces personnel or U.S. Government employees temporarily stationed abroad will be considered "residing in the United States" for these purposes.

If a child qualifies for citizenship under the CCA, USCIS does not need to approve a naturalization application for the child. However, an application for certificate of citizenship (Form N-643K) may be filed to obtain evidence/proof of citizenship.