Executive Order 5621—Amendment of Article X of Consular Regulations

Section 140, Article X of the Consular Regulations, is hereby amended to read as follows: 140. Naturalization and citizenship of married women. It is provided by an act of Congress of September 22, 1922 (42 Stat. 1021), as amended by two acts of Congress approved July 3, 1930 (46 Stat. 849 and 854), and the act of Congress approved March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1511): 1. That the right of any woman to become a naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be denied or abridged because of her sex or because she is a married woman. 2. That any woman who marries a citizen of the United States after the passage of this act, or any woman whose husband is naturalized after the passage of this act, shall not become a citizen of the United States by reason of such marriage or naturalization; but, if eligible to citizenship, she may be naturalized upon full and complete compliance with all requirements of the naturalization laws, with the following exceptions: (a) No declaration of intention shall be required; (b) In lieu of the 5-year period of residence within the United States and the 1-year period of residence within the State or Territory where the naturalization court is held, she shall have resided continuously in the United States, Hawaii, Alaska, or Porto Rico for at least one year immediately preceding the filing of the petition. 3. (a) A woman citizen of the United States shall not cease to be a citizen of the United States by reason of her marriage after this section, as amended, takes effect, unless she makes a formal renunciation of her citizenship before a court having jurisdiction over naturalization of aliens. (b) Any woman who before this section, as amended, takes effect, has lost her United States citizenship by residence abroad after marriage to an alien or by marriage to an alien ineligible to citizenship may, if she has not acquired any other nationality by affirmative act, be naturalized in the manner prescribed in section 4 of this act, as amended. Any woman who was a citizen of the United States at birth shall not be denied naturalization under section 4 on account of her race. (c) No woman shall be entitled to naturalization under section 4 of this act, as amended, if her United States citizenship originated solely by reason of her marriage to a citizen of the United States or by reason of the acquisition of United States citizenship by her husband. 4. (a) A woman who has lost her United States citizenship by reason of her marriage to an alien eligible to citizenship or by reason of the loss of United States citizenship by her husband may, if eligible to citizenship and if she has not acquired any other nationality by affirmative act, be naturalized upon full and complete compliance with all requirements of the naturalization laws, with the following exceptions: (1) No declaration of intention and no certificate of arrival shall be required, and no period of residence within the United States or within the county where the petition is filed shall be required; (2) The petition need not set forth that it is the intention of the petitioner to reside permanently within the United States; (3) The petition may be filed in any court having naturalization jurisdiction, regardless of the residence of the petitioner; (4) If there is attached to the petition, at the time of filing, a certificate from a naturalization examiner stating that the petitioner has appeared before him for examination, the petition may be heard at any time after filing. (b) After her naturalization such woman shall have the same citizenship status as if her marriage, or the loss of citizenship by her husband, as the case may be, had taken place after this section, as amended, takes effect. The amendment made by this section to section 4 of such act of September 22, 1922, shall not terminate citizenship acquired under such section 4 before such amendment. 5. (Repealed by section 4(6) of the act of March 3, 1931.) 6. That section 1994 of the Revised Statutes, which reads as follows: "Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the United States, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, shall be deemed a citizen." and section 4 of the Expatriation Act of March 2, 1907 (34 Stat. 1229), which reads as follows: "That any foreign woman who acquires American citizenship by marriage to an American shall be assumed to retain the same after the termination of the marital relation if she continues to reside in the United States, unless she makes formal renunciation thereof before a court having jurisdiction to naturalize aliens, or if she resides abroad she may retain her citizenship by registering as such before a United States consul within one year after the termination of such marital relation." are repealed. Such repeal shall not terminate citizenship acquired or retained under either of such sections, nor restore citizenship lost under the latter. 7. That section 3 of the Expatriation Act of March 2, 1907 (34 Stat. 1228), which reads as follows: "That any American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband. At the termination of the marital relation she may resume her American citizenship, if abroad, by registering as an American citizen within one year with a consul of the United States, or by returning to reside in the United States, or, if residing in the United States at the termination of the marital relation, by continuing to reside therein." is repealed. Such repeal shall not restore citizenship lost nor terminate citizenship resumed under this section. A woman who has resumed under such section citizenship lost by marriage shall, upon the passage of this act, have for all purposes the same citizenship status as immediately preceding her marriage. 8. That any woman eligible by race to citizenship who has married a citizen of the United States before the passage of this amendment, whose husband shall have been a native-born citizen and a member of the military or naval forces of the United States during the World War and separated therefrom under honorable conditions; if otherwise admissible, shall not be excluded from admission into the United States under section 3 of the Immigration 2^ct of 1917, unless she be excluded under the provisions of that section relating to— (a) Persons afflicted with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, except tuberculosis in any form; (b) Polygamy; (c) Prostitutes, procurers, or other like immoral persons; (d) Persons convicted of crime: Provided , That no such wife shall be excluded because of offenses committed during legal infancy, while a minor under the age of 21 years, and for which the sentences imposed were less than three months, and which were committed more than five years previous to the date of the passage of this amendment; (e) Persons previously deported; (f) Contract laborers. That after admission to the United States she shall be subject to all other provisions of this act. HERBERT HOOVER The White House, May 13, 1931.