97 STAT. 1464 PUBLIC LAW 98-213—DEC. 8, 1983 Citizenship or nationality requirement. 48 USC 1681 note. 48 USC 1681 note. Proclamations, issuan^. _ 48 USC 1681 note. 48 USC 1681 note. 48 USC 1681 note. Mariana Islands from receiving services or assistance pursuant to such law. SEC. 19. (a) The President may, subject to the provisions of section 20 of this Act, by proclamation provide that the requirement of United States citizenship or nationality provided for in any of the statutes listed on pages 63-74 of the Interim Report of the Northern Mariana Islands Commission on Federal Laws to the Congress of the United States, dated January 1982 and submitted pursuant to sec- tion 504 of the Covenant, shall not be applicable to the citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands. The President is authorized to cor- rect clerical errors in the list, and to add to it provisions, where it appears from the context that they were inadvertently omitted from the list. (b) A statute which denies a benefit or imposes a burden or a disability on an alien, his dependents, or his survivors shall, for the purposes of this Act, be considered to impose a requirement of United States citizenship or nationality. SEC. 20. (a) The President may issue one or more proclamations under the authority of this Act. (b) When issuing such proclamation or proclamations the President— (1) shall take into account: (i) the hardship suffered by the citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands resulting from the fact that, while they are subject to most of the laws of the United States, they are denied the benefit of those laws which contain a require- ment of United States citizenship or nationality; (ii) the responsibilities, obligations, and limitations im- posed upon the United States by international law; (2) may make the requirement of United States citizenship or nationality inapplicable only to those citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands who declare in writing that they do not intend to exercise their option under section 302 of the Covenant to become a national but not a citizen of the United States; (3) may make the requirement of a United States citizenship or nationality inapplicable only in the Northern Mariana Islands; (4) may retain the requirement of United States citizenship or nationality with respect to parts of a statute or portion thereof. SEC. 21. If the President does not issue any proclamation author- ized by section 19 of this Act within a period of six months following the effective date of the Act, the requirement of United States citizenship or nationality as a prerequisite of any benefit, right, privilege, or immunity in any statute made applicable to the North- ern Mariana Islands by the terms of that statute or by operation of the Covenant shall not be applicable to citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not be applicable to any requirements of United States citizenship or nationality contained in statutes relating to the political rights of citizenship, and to the diplomatic protection of, and services to, citizens or nationals of the United States in foreign countries:
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