8 U.S.C. § 1489
Section 1489 · Application of treaties; exceptions
This is § 357 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case Ballester v. United States (1955)
Most recently applied in Sing Chow v. United States (January 1964)
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.
Nothing in this subchapter shall be applied in contravention of the provisions of any treaty or convention to which the United States is a party and which has been ratified by the Senate before December 25, 1952: Provided, however, That no woman who was a national of the United States shall be deemed to have lost her nationality solely by reason of her marriage to an alien on or after September 22, 1922, or to an alien racially ineligible to citizenship on or after March 3, 1931, or, in the case of a woman who was a United States citizen at birth, through residence abroad following such marriage, notwithstanding the provisions of any existing treaty or convention.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1988—Pub. L. 100–525 substituted “before December 25, 1952” for “upon the effective date of this subchapter”.
Cross References
Definition of the term—
Alien, see section 1101(a)(3) of this title.
Ineligible to citizenship, see section 1101(a)(19) of this title.
National of the United States, see section 1101(a)(22) of this title.
Residence, see section 1101(a)(33) of this title.
United States, see section 1101(a)(38) of this title.