18 U.S.C. § 911
Section 911 · Citizen of the United States
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 265 court decisions — leading case Taniguchi v. Schultz (2002)
Most recently applied in Ferreira v. Garland (March 2024)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (40 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 8 U.S.C. § 1326 · 18 U.S.C. § 1542 · 28 U.S.C. § 1291
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever falsely and willfully represents himself to be a citizen of the United States shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on subsection (a), paragraph (18) and subsection (d), of section 746, title 8, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Aliens and Nationality (Oct. 14, 1940, ch. 876, §346(a), par. (18), and (d), 54 Stat. 1165, 1167).
Section consolidates said provisions of section 746, title 8, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Aliens and Nationality. The word “willfully” was substituted for “knowingly”, “$1,000” for “$5,000”, and “three years” for “five years”, to harmonize with congressional intent evidenced by the other sections of this chapter.
Minor changes were made in phraseology and unnecessary words were omitted.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.
Cross References
Certificate of citizenship—
Penalty for misuse of, see section 1423 of this title.
Procurement unlawfully, see section 1425 of this title.
Sale or disposal, see section 1427 of this title.
Surrender of canceled certificate, see section 1428 of this title.
Citizenship—
Counterfeiting papers, see section 1426 of this title.
Misuse of papers in proceeding relating to, see section 1424 of this title.
Penalty for demanding or receiving additional fees, see section 1422 of this title.
Penalty for false statements in matters relating to, see section 1015 of this title.
Limitations; offenses not capital, see section 3282 of this title.
Visas and permits, false personation, see section 1546 of this title.