text: If the child was born between November 14, 1986, and June 11, 2017, to a U.S. mother who had resided in the United States or its possessions for one year, or to a U.S. father who had resided in the United States or its possessions five years before the child's birth, with two of them after the age of fourteen. In addition, the father had to prove a biological relationship, agree to financially support the child, and formally legitimize the child prior to its majority (18 years old).
  In 2017, in a unanimous decision in the case of Sessions v. Morales-Santana (137 S. Ct. 1678, 2017), the Supreme Court struck down the unequal residence requirement for unmarried parents to pass on nationality to their children born abroad, ruling that the equal but longer term of five years residency should apply until Congress amended the law.
  Adoptions
  Prior to 2000, adoptees had to be naturalized and could be subject to deportation in later life for various offenses. Adopted children born on or before February 26, 1983, are subject to the law in effect at the time they were adopted. With passage of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, effective for children under eighteen or born on or after February 27, 2001, foreign adoptees of U.S. nationals, brought to the United States by a legal custodial parent in their minority, automatically derive nationality upon legal entry to the country and finalization of the adoption process.