A foreign national is any
person
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
(including an
organization
An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
) who is not a national of a specific country.
[ ("The term 'person' means an individual or an organization.")] For example, in the United States and in its territories, a foreign national is something or someone who is neither a citizen nor a national of the United States.Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
The law of Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
divides people into three major groups: citizens, permanent residents, and foreign nationals.
The term "foreign national" is not defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which instead uses the term alien to cover many classes of people who do not qualify as nationals of the United States (Americans
Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...
).[See, e.g., ("The term 'alien' means any person not a citizen or national of the United States."), ("The term 'national of the United States' means (A) a citizen of the United States, ''or (B) a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States''.") (emphasis added)]
The term "foreign national" is used in US election laws to describe a person who is prohibited from contributing to federal campaigns.
1101(a)(22)
of title 8) and who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence, as defined by sectio
1101(a)(20)
of title 8."
See also
* Alien
* Nationality
Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...
* Immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
* Naturalization
* Statelessness
* Third country national
Third country national (TCN) is a term often used in the context of migration, referring to individuals who are in transit and/or applying for visas in countries that are not their country of origin (i.e. country of transit), in order to go to a d ...
Notes and references
''This article in most part is based on the law of Canada and the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign National
Human migration
Nationality