tion of research or the Government of the United States, he can go abroad and be abroad for a number of years, and then can come back and be naturalized, and his absence from the United States would not be counted against him under existing law. Mr. REES. It would be counted in his favor? Mr. SHOEMAKER. Yes; it would be counted in his favor, because, representing American interests abroad, or representing the United States, he is representing America. That is the theory on which the law was enacted. Here is a man out on the firing lines of the world selling American goods, and it was felt that, because he was making the opportunity for a livelihood for American citizens, he should be given the opportunity, if he did these things which the statute provided, to become a citizen notwithstanding the fact that he had been absent during the time of that period. As a matter of fact, there are very few of these men who stay out over 2 years. Many of them come back yearly and many of them come back every 6 months, but it was giving them the opportunity to represent before the Secretary of Labor the fact that they were going abroad in American interests. Mr. REES. He would have to wait at least for a period of 1 year, whether abroad or in the United States? Mr. SHOEMAKER. He would have to wait longer than that. He would have to wait the statutory period of 5 years. Mr. REES. I mean, the wife would have to declare her intention at least a year before she would become a citizen under any law you had before. Mr. SHOEMAKER. No. Mr. FLOURNOY. Under the Cable Act. Mr. SHOEMAKER. She could become a citizen by 1 year's residence. Mr. REES. That is right. She could become a citizen by 1 year's residence but you could count her residing with her American husband as part of that? Mr. SHOEMAKER. Yes. Mr. REES. And now you say that all she has to do is to marry this man and he can bring her back here the next day and she could become a citizen right away? Mr. SHOEMAKER, Yes; and I think I can give you the reason which prompted Congress to enact that statute. Many of these persons were married to American citizens. If they did not come back it would mean a separation of the family. The children would have to go in many instances, and therefore they wanted to make provision for making the family a unit, and that was the reason for the enactment of that legislation. This law touches not the alien but the American citizen spouse. Mr. REES. It does not touch the alien? Mr. SHOEMAKER. It touches the alien who is not a citizen but must have a spouse who is a citizen. (In response to a call for a quorum from the floor of the House, the committee recessed for a short while, after which the following occurred :) Mr. REES. I believe we are through with section 311. Mr. SHOEMAKER. I think so. Shall I go to section 312? Mr. REES. If you please. Mr. SHOEMAKER (reading): SEC. 312. A child born outside of the United States, one of whose parents at the time of the child's birth was an alien and the other of whose parents then was and never thereafter ceased to be a citizen of the United States, shall, if such alien parent is naturalized, be deemed a citizen of the United States, when(a) Such naturalization takes place while such child is under the age of eighteen years; and (b) Such child is residing in the United States at the time of naturalization or thereafter and begins to reside permanently in the United States while under the age of eighteen years. That is different from existing law. Under existing law, if a child be born to an American parent and an alien, it is a citizen of the United States for the purposes of entering the United States, but in order to retain that status must continue to reside in the United States from its thirteenth to its eighteenth birthday and must within 6 months after attaining majority take an oath of allegiance to the United States in order to attain that status. This, you will notice, changes the law to provide that the citizen parent, "the other of whose parents then was and never thereafter ceased to be a citizen of the United States," is new law, and then it provides for the acquisition of citizenship up to 18 years of age. Mr. REES. In other words, it is not necessary that the child should reside in the United States for the period of 5 years between the ages of 13 and 18? Mr. SHOEMAKER. No. Mr. REES. Under the proposed law? Mr. SHOEMAKER. Under this provision. Mr. REES. As a matter of fact, he does not have to reside in the United States at all up until the time he is 18 years of age? Mr. SHOEMAKER. Such child must have been residing in the United States at the age of 18 years. Mr. REES. Yes. He can come in at the age of 171⁄2 years and become a citizen? Mr. SHOEMAKER. Yes. Mr. REES. And never have resided in the United States prior to that time? Mr. SHOEMAKER. That is right. Mr. FLOURNOY. This only applies to a child who has one citizen parent. Mr. SHOEMAKER. Under old section 1993 of the Revised Statutes, which was repealed by the act of May 24, 1934, the law at that time required only that the parent father should be a citizen. They did not make any provision at that time in the case of the alien child through the parents. Mr. REES. How about the 1934 law? Mr. SHOEMAKER. That provided that the child could come in at his thirteenth birthday at least and stay here continuously until 18, and then he might go out again. There was no requirement that the child should be residing here from his eighteenth to his twenty-first birthday. This requires that the child shall come in before his eighteenth birthday and be here at the time of the naturalization. Mr. REES. Who reside here? Mr. SHOEMAKER. It must be here: Such child is residing in the United States at the time of naturalization or thereafter and begins to reside permanently in the United States while under the age of eighteen years. Mr. REES. Let's get this straight. I do not want to be technical. As I understand it, a child whose father or mother is an American citizen but who is born abroad can come into the United States just before reaching the age of 18 years, reside here until he or she becomes 18 years or more, can then leave the United States and be here residing again before he or she is 21 years of age and thereby become a citizen of the United States. Mr. SHOEMAKER. Yes. Mr. FLOURNOY. I wanted to ask a question. I do not know whether it is entirely clear. This requires the alien parent to become naturalized so that when the child becomes a citizen the child has two citizen parents? Mr. REES. Oh, yes. Mr. FLOURNOY. One is a citizen Mr. SHOEMAKER. And never ceased to become a citizen and was at the time of the child's birth. Mr. FLOURNOY. These provisions are stricter than under the existing law, because under existing law the child may be naturalized through the naturalization of one parent. Mr. REES. Let me see if I am right. The alien father or mother does not have to be a citizen at the time of the birth of the child. Mr. SHOEMAKER. Oh, no. Mr. REES. Just so he becomes a citizen within a certain time? Mr. SHOEMAKER. If a child comes here before the eighteenth birthday "shall, if such alien parent is naturalized, be deemed a citizen of the United States" under these conditions (a) and (b). Mr. REES. I am wondering when the alien parent becomes a citizen. Mr. SHOEMAKER. Yes. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. The second parent, who was a citizen at the time of the child's birth. Mr. SHOEMAKER. And never ceased to be a citizen. Mr. BUTLER. This child entered the United States as an alien and under this law that child enters the United States as a citizen, under 1993 of the Revised Statutes, as amended. Mr. SHOEMAKER. I think that is definitely so. That child, as Mr. Butler says, could enter the United States as a citizen provided it came before its thirteenth birthday. Whether it continued to retain that status depended upon compliance with the other conditions-that is to say, residence in the United States from the thirteenth to the eighteenth birthday and then taking the oath of allegiance after attaining majority. This differentiates that, that this child must come in as an alien child, subject to all the requirements of the immigration laws. Mr. REES. This child becomes a citizen. All in the world this child has to do is to come in here before she is 18 years of age, provided that the alien father or mother has in the meantime become a citizen, provided he or she is residing here just before she is 21. She is a citizen and that is all there is to it. Am I right? Mr. FLOURNOY. The child enters as an alien. Mr. REES. Under this law. Mr. FLOURNOY. Yes. Mr. REES. How does she become a citizen? Mr. FLOURNOY. After having been admitted. Mr. FLOURNOY. Automatically. Mr. REES. That is what I mean. There is no process of naturalization. Mr. SHOEMAKER. Solely derivation. Mr. REES. Oh, yes. Mr. BUTLER. But now the child under such circumstances comes in as a citizen. He does not have to meet the requirements of the immigration laws. This is stricter than the present law. Mr. REES. I think the present law is strict enough. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. It is what the old law was. Prior to the decision of the Supreme Court Mr. BUTLER. In the Chindberry case. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. In the Chindberry case-there could be a succession of United States citizens passed to generations of persons, that could be admitted as such. Mr. BUTLER. We always adhered to the Chindberry theory. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. I mean before that. Mr. FLOURNOY. Only where the citizen parent has been residing in extraterritorial countries. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Yes; and that was overruled. Mr. REES. All right. Now, section 313. Mr. SHOEMAKER (reading): SEC. 313. A child born outside of the United States of alien parents, or of an alien parent and a citizen parent who has subsequently lost citizenship of the United States, becomes a citizen of the United States upon fulfillment of the following conditions: (a) The naturalization of both parents; or (b) The naturalization of the surviving parent if one of the parents is deceased; or (c) The naturalization of the parent having legal custody of the child when there has been a legal separation of the parents; and if— (d) Such naturalization takes place while such child is under the age of eighteen years; and (e) Such child is residing in the United States at the time of the naturalization of the parent last naturalized under subsection (a) of this section, or the parent naturalized under subsection (b) or (c) of this section, or thereafter begins to reside permanently in the United States while under the age of eighteen years. That is much stricter than existing law. Under existing law a child born abroad, the parents both of whom are aliens must under section 2 of the act of May 24, 1934, come here before its sixteenth birthday. If one of its parents be naturalized, either the husband or the wife, that child would acquire citizenship provided it lived here for 5 years. So, therefore, it must have come here under the age of 16 years. If one of the parents were dead and the other parent became naturalized, under our construction of the statute that child would acquire citizenship even though that child came after the age of 16 years and would only get citizenship after 5 years' residence. Here they are making a provision that both parents must be naturalized, assuming that both are living, and the marital relationship continues, or if one of them be surviving, or if there be a separation and the person having legal custody of the child becomes naturalized, the child may acquire citizenship, provided that takes place while the child is under the age of 18 and is residing in the United States, and the other conditions which obtain under that section 313. So it is much stricter than the existing law. Mr. REES. All right. Section 314. Mr. SHOEMAKER (reading): A child born outside of the United States, one of whose parents is at the time of petitioning for the naturalization of the child, a citizen of the United States, either by birth or naturalization, may be naturalized if under the age of eighteen years and not otherwise disqualified from becoming a citizen and is residing permanently in the United States with the citizen parent, on the petition of such citizen parent, without a declaration of intention, upon compliance with the applicable procedural provisions of the naturalization laws. That is entirely new legislation. Mr. REES. Tell us about the difficulties you are trying to take care of. Mr. SHOEMAKER. Perhaps you can do that better, Mr. Flournoy. I can tell you what I think. Mr. FLOURNOY. It is my understanding of the reason that it is simply this. We feel that there would probably be cases where a minor child, an alien child, having one citizen parent and one alien parent, should be able to acquire citizenship through the act of the citizen parent. This is not automatic. The citizen parent has to make petition and have the child regularly admitted upon the petition of the citizen parent. So that it is stricter than the act of May 24, 1934, and stricter than the old law in that it requires some act on the part of the citizen parent. In other words, the mere naturalization of the citizen parent would not be enough. He has to make a petition to do this. It seems a humane and reasonable thing. Mr. REES. In other words, take the case of a child, she would become a citizen because of the citizenship of both of the parents? Mr. FLOURNOY. Yes, sir. Mr. REES. Even though the mother may have been an alien. Mr. FLOURNOY. I might mention another kind of a case to which this would apply. We might find a case of where the citizen parent is born abroad of American parents and has never resided in this country before this child's birth. The parent then would be a citizen but the child would not be a citizen because the citizen parent had not resided in this country before the child's birth. If the family moved back over here, the parent would still be a citizen and have this alien child. That is one kind of case to which this provision would apply. Mr. SHOEMAKER. In other words, this modifies section 312, as you can see. Mr. REES. Yes; it does. Mr. SHOEMAKER. It gives this child an opportunity to become naturalized through a court procedure provided the citizen parent moves and brings the thing all out before the court, even though the other parent does not become a citizen. So it is really a modification of section 312. Mr. REES. Under section 312 |