citizenship nationality
When can an immigrant claim US nationality?
<p>Inspired by <a href="https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/474758/is-there-a-word-for-state-of-residence">this question</a> over at EL&amp;U. </p>

<p>In my research for a response that question (which I never posted), I found <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2017/07/09/what-is-the-difference-between-nationality-and-citizenship" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article in the Economist</a>, which includes this paragraph:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>In general, to be a national is to be a member of a state. Nationality is acquired by birth or adoption, marriage, or descent (the specifics vary from country to country). Having a nationality is crucial for receiving full recognition under international law. Indeed, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “Everyone has the right to a nationality” and “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality” but is silent on citizenship. Citizenship is a narrower concept: it is a specific legal relationship between a state and a person. It gives that person certain rights and responsibilities. It does not have to accompany nationality. In some Latin American countries, for example, such as Mexico, a person acquires nationality at birth but receives citizenship only upon turning 18: Mexican children, therefore, are nationals but not citizens.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I was born in the US, so I am a US citizen and a US national. At what stage of the immigration process can an immigrant to the US truthfully and legally declare the US as their nationality?</p>

<p>(Limiting this to the US since different countries handle citizenship and nationality differently.)</p>

<p>When the person has been <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization" rel="nofollow noreferrer">naturalised</a>, that is, when the US government officially recognises them as a US citizen.</p>

<p>There are many pathways to citizenship and the ones on the linked page are pretty typical across the world although the details vary:</p>

<ul>
<li>residence for a period with or without marriage to a citizen</li>
<li>service</li>
<li>descent.</li>
</ul>

<p>The Immigration and Nationality Act doesn't seem to give any way for a non-US-national to become a non-citizen US national. A non-US-national can only obtain US nationality by obtaining US citizenship at the same time -- via naturalization (whether automatic or through a process). The only ways to become a non-citizen US national seem to be 1) at birth, either by <a href="https://fam.state.gov/FAM/08FAM/08FAM030205.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">birth in American Samoa or Swains Island</a> (or possibly <a href="https://fam.state.gov/FAM/08FAM/08FAM030201.html#M302_1_3_C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">other minor US islands</a> which don't have birthright citizenship), or by <a href="https://fam.state.gov/FAM/08FAM/08FAM030208.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">birth abroad</a> to a parent who is a non-citizen US national, or 2) by being a Northern Mariana Islander who automatically became a US citizen when the Northern Mariana Islands joined the US, who exercised their <a href="https://fam.state.gov/FAM/08FAM/08FAM030206.html#M302_6_8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">option</a> to become a non-citizen US national instead, within 6 months of the effective date of their citizenship or within 6 months of turning 18.</p>

<p>However, there is some conflicted case law on the question of whether an immigrant who has applied for naturalization could be considered a US national before they become a US citizen. In <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1304843.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">United States v. Morin</a> (1996), the defendant challenged his conviction for a murder outside the US, where the conviction depended on a statute about killing a national of the US, and the victim was a permanent resident who was in the process of naturalization; the 4th Circuit ruled that the victim was a US national, as he had applied for naturalization and that was evidence of his permanent allegiance to the US. However, in <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1399598.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fernandez v. Keisler</a> (2007), the same 4th Circuit agreed with <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3489.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a BIA ruling</a> that nationality could only be acquired by birth or naturalization. In page 9 of <a href="https://immigrantdefenseproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/FINALAppendix-K_FINAL5thEd2011.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this booklet</a>, it lists many other cases relating to the argument that a deportee is a non-citizen national, and most of them seem to say that merely applying for naturalization is not enough to become a US national.</p>

<p>Under US law (<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1101" rel="nofollow noreferrer">8 USC 1101</a>), "national" means a person owing permanent allegiance to a state, and "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. <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/chapter-12/subchapter-III/part-I" rel="nofollow noreferrer">8 USC Part I</a> defines the conditions for nationality at birth and via collective naturalization (e.g. foreign-born children with a US citizen parent in the military between 1946 and 1952). <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/chapter-12/subchapter-III/part-II" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Part II</a> covers individual naturalization.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1408" rel="nofollow noreferrer">8 USC 1408</a> specifies who is a national but not a citizen at birth: for example, one born in an outlying possession of the US (American Samoa). Anyone born in American Samoa since US acquisition of the territory can claim nationality, and there are other circumstances describe there giving rise to US nationality. There is also a provision under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1409" rel="nofollow noreferrer">8 USC 1409</a> where a child born after December 23, 1952 out of wedlock gains US nationality if the mother had US nationality (not citizenship). Other parts of the code assign citizenship at birth, for example, Danish citizens residing in the Virgin Islands on January 17, 1917 and remaining there or in the US or Puerto Rico for a bit over a decade, who didn't preserve their Danish citizenship (...).</p>

<p>American Samoans can immigrate to the US and they can become US citizens; once naturalized they become citizens. Before that, they have US nationality but American Samoan citizenship.</p>
