Foreign national facts for kids

A foreign national is simply a person who is visiting or living in a country where they are not a citizen. Imagine someone from Canada visiting or living in the United States. They would be considered a foreign national in the U.S. because they are a citizen of Canada, not the U.S.

Foreign Nationals in the European Union

The European Union (EU) has a slightly different way of defining a "foreign national." In the EU, if you are a citizen of any country that is part of the European Union, you are generally not seen as a foreign national within the EU.

Instead, the term "third-country national" is often used. This term refers to people who are not citizens of any country within the European Union. So, for the EU, a foreign national is someone from outside the EU member countries.

Foreign Nationals in the United States

The United States Department of Homeland Security has its own clear definition. It states that a foreign national is any person "who is a citizen of any country other than the United States."

In simpler words, a person is considered a foreign national in the United States if they meet these three conditions:

• They were born outside the United States.
• They are a citizen of a different country.
• They have not become a United States citizen through a process called naturalization.