Overview#
Nationals are
Natural Person of a
Nationality
Although all
United States citizens are also
United States Nationals, the reverse is not true. As specified in 8
U.S.C. § 1408, a person whose only connection to the
United States 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
United States Nationality but not
United States 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;
- Philippines from 1898 to 1935 when immigration rights of national status was rescinded as part of the Philippine Independence Act, with full independence in 1946;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;
- United States Virgin Islands from 1917 to 1927 when citizenship was granted by an act of Congress in 1927.
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following: