page_title: United States nationality law
section_title: Nationals
hierarchical_section_title: United States nationality law / Nationals
caption_attribution_description: English: Message in a US passport issued to an American Samoan. The message indicates that the passport holder is a US national and not a US citizen.
context_page_description: The United States nationality law is set out in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 which contains a uniform rule of naturalization of the United States. The 1952 Act sets out the legal requirements for the acquisition and divestiture of U.S. nationality.
  The most recent changes to the law were made in 2001.
context_section_description: Although all U.S. citizens are also U.S. nationals, the reverse is not true.  As specified in 8 U.S.C. § 1408, a person whose only connection to the U.S. is through birth in an outlying possession (which is defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101 as American Samoa and Swains Island, which is administered as part of American Samoa), or through descent from a person so born, acquires U.S. nationality but not U.S. citizenship. This was formerly the case in only four other current or former U.S. overseas possessions:
  Guam from 1898 to 1950, when citizenship granted by an Act of Congress through the Guam Organic Act of 1950;
  the Philippines from 1898 to 1935 when immigration rights of national status was rescinded as part of the Philippine Independence Act, with full independence in 1946;
  Puerto Rico from 1898 to 1917 when citizenship was granted through the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917; and
  the U.S. Virgin Islands from 1917 to 1927 when citizenship was granted by an act of Congress in 1927.
  The nationality status of a person born in an unincorporated United States Minor Outlying Island is not specifically mentioned by law, but under Supreme Court decision they are also regarded as non-citizen U.S. nationals.
  In addition, residents of the Northern Mariana Islands who automatically gained U.S. citizenship in 1986 as a result of the Covenant between the Northern Marianas and the U.S. could elect to become non-citizen nationals within 6 months of the implementation of the Covenant or within 6 months of turning 18.
  The U.S. passport issued to non-citizen nationals contains the endorsement code 9 which states: "THE BEARER IS A UNITED STATES NATIONAL AND NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN." on the annotations page.
  Non-citizen U.S. nationals may reside and work in the United States without restrictions, and may apply for citizenship under similar rules as foreign nationals or citizens, except that they do not need to hold U.S. permanent resident status when they apply or to have held it for any length of time before applying. Like permanent residents, they are not currently allowed by any U.S. state to vote in federal or state elections, although, as with permanent residents, there is no constitutional prohibition against their doing so. The only elections in which non-citizen U.S. national may vote are the local and congressional elections in American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
  For tax purposes the term "U.S. national" refers to individuals who were born in American Samoa or were born in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands who have chosen to be U.S. nationals instead of U.S. citizens.
  Like U.S. citizens, non-citizen U.S. nationals may transmit their non-citizen U.S. nationality to children born abroad, although the rules are somewhat different from the rules for U.S. citizens.
caption: Message in the passport of an American Samoan stating that the passport holder is a national, not citizen, of the US
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