Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.[1]
Categorization
Types of "alien" persons are:
- An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country. This is a very broad category which includes tourists, guest workers, legal permanent residents and student visa resident aliens.
- An alien who has temporary or permanent residence in a country (which is foreign to him/her) may be called a resident alien of that country. This is a subset of the aforementioned legal alien category.
- An alien who is visiting a country (which is foreign to him/her) may be called a nonresident alien of that country. This is a subset of the aforementioned legal alien category.
- An alien who is present in a country (which is foreign to him/her) unlawfully or without the country's authorization is known as an illegal alien of that country.[2] In the United States, such an alien is also referred to as an "undocumented person" or "undocumented immigrant." An illegal alien commonly refers to a foreign national who resides in another country unlawfully, either by entering that country at a place other than a designated port-of-entry or as result of the expiration of a non-immigrant visa.
- An enemy alien is an alien who is designated as an enemy; compare to enemy combatant.
Specific jurisdictions
 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. |
- In U.S. law, an alien is "any person not a citizen or national of the United States."[3] The U.S. Government's use of alien dates back to 1798, when it was used in the Alien and Sedition Acts.[4] U.S. law makes a clear distinction between aliens and immigrants by defining immigrants as a subset of aliens.[3] Although U.S. law provides no overarching explicit definition of the term "illegal alien," the term is used in many statutes[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and elsewhere (e.g., court cases, executive orders). U.S. law also uses the term "unauthorized alien."[14][15][16][17][18] U.S. immigration laws do not refer to illegal immigrants, but in common parlance the term "illegal immigrant" is often used to refer to any illegal alien.[19] Because at law, a corporation is a person, the term alien is not limited to natural humans because what are colloquially called foreign corporations are technically called alien corporations. Because corporations are creations of local state law, a foreign corporation is an out of state corporation.
- In Latvian passports, alien is used for non-citizens (nepilsoņi): former citizens of USSR who have specific rights and privileges under Latvian law and international bilateral treaties while not possessing full Latvian citizenship.
See also
- Dual citizen
- Foreigner
- Immigration
- Naturalization
- Gaikokujin
- California Alien Land Law of 1913
- Alien and Sedition Acts
- Non-citizens (Latvia)
- Illegal immigration
References
- ^ "alien"
- ^ "illegal alien"
- ^ a b 8 USC 1101
- ^ Alien and Sedition Acts
- ^ 2 USC 658
- ^ 8 USC 1252c
- ^ 8 USC 1330
- ^ 8 USC 1356
- ^ 8 USC 1365
- ^ 8 USC 1366
- ^ 8 USC 1621
- ^ 42 USC 6705
- ^ 49 USC 40125
- ^ 8 USC 1188
- ^ 8 USC 1255
- ^ 8 USC 1324
- ^ 8 USC 1324a
- ^ 8 USC 1324b
- ^ "Immigration Coverage in the Crossfire" Deborah Howell, March 2, 2008, The Washington Post
External links
Look up Alien in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Resident Alien Information
- Aliens (Encyclopedic Entry)
- D. C. Earnest Noncitizen Voting Rights: A Survey of an Emerging Democratic Norm, 2003
- University of Minnesota Human Rights Center: Study Guide: The Rights of Non-Citizens, 2003
- UK Aliens' registration cards on The National Archives' website.
- Council of Europe Commission for Democracy through Law Report on noncitizens and minority rights, 2007
- [1]
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