H.R. 5976 — To protect collective self-determination and individual rights under Federal statutes conferring nationality on persons born and residing in the territory of American Samoa, to enable subsequent elective United States citizenship upon application of such persons residing in a State or in a territory subject to sections 301 through 308 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and for other purposes.

This section repeals the naturalization authority under Section 325 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for non-citizen U.S. nationals (i.e., primarily persons born in American Samoa or Swains Island who owe permanent allegiance to the U.S.) who establish residence in a state. (As background, prior law allowed such residence, including time in U.S. outlying possessions, to count toward naturalization requirements.) It revises INA Section 341 to authorize the Secretary of State to issue a U.S. passport to a non-citizen national identifying the holder as a national but not a citizen, or—upon request if residing in a state or territory subject to INA §§301-308 (i.e., Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands)—as both a national and a citizen. (Thus, this effectively recognizes such nationals as citizens for passport purposes upon establishing qualifying residence.) It makes conforming changes to the section heading ("Procedure for passports for U.S. non-citizen nationals") and table of contents.