22 U.S.C. § 1731
Section 1731 · Protection to naturalized citizens abroad
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Dames & Moore v. Regan (1981)
Most recently applied in Zahourek v. Arthur Young & Co. (December 1984)
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.
All naturalized citizens of the United States while in foreign countries are entitled to and shall receive from this Government the same protection of persons and property which is accorded to native-born citizens.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §2000 derived from Act July 27, 1868, ch. 249, §2, 15 Stat. 224.
Section was formerly classified to section 903a of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality.
Equitable Treatment by United States of Its Citizens Living Abroad
Pub. L. 95–426, title VI, §611, Oct. 7, 1978, 92 Stat. 989, as amended by Pub. L. 96–60, title IV, §407, Aug. 15, 1979, 93 Stat. 405; Pub. L. 97–241, title V, §505(a)(2), (b)(1), Aug. 24, 1982, 96 Stat. 299, provided that: “The Congress finds that—
“(1) United States citizens living abroad should be provided fair and equitable treatment by the United States Government with regard to taxation, citizenship of progeny, veterans’ benefits, voting rights, Social Security benefits, and other obligations, rights, and benefits; and
“(2) United States statutes and regulations should be designed so as not to create competitive disadvantage for individual American citizens living abroad or working in international markets.”