8 U.S.C. § 1502
Section 1502 · Certificate of nationality issued by Secretary of State for person not a naturalized citizen of United States for use in proceedings of a foreign state
This is § 359 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 55 court decisions — leading case McGrath v. Kristensen (1950)
Most recently applied in 217 F. Supp. 2d 59 - Shekoyan v. Sibley International Corp. (August 2002)
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.
The Secretary of State is authorized to issue, in his discretion and in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by him, a certificate of nationality for any person not a naturalized citizen of the United States who presents satisfactory evidence that he is an American national and that such certificate is needed for use in judicial or administrative proceedings in a foreign state. Such certificate shall be solely for use in the case for which it was issued and shall be transmitted by the Secretary of State through appropriate official channels to the judicial or administrative officers of the foreign state in which it is to be used.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Section was formerly classified to section 101 of this title.
Cross References
Definition of the term—
Foreign state, see section 1101(a)(14) of this title.
National of the United States, see section 1101(a)(22) of this title.
United States, see section 1101(a)(38) of this title.