An "alien" in
English law denoted any person born outside of the monarch's dominions and who did not owe allegiance to the monarch. Aliens were not allowed to own
land and were subject to different taxes to
subjects. This idea was passed on in the
Commonwealth to other common law jurisdictions.
Australia In
Australia, citizenship is defined in the
Australian nationality law. Non-citizens in Australia are permanent residents, temporary residents, or "unlawful non-citizens". Most non-citizens (including those who lack citizenship documents) traveling to Australia must obtain a
visa prior to travel. The only exceptions to the rule are holders of
New Zealand passports and citizenship, who may apply for a visa on arrival according to the
Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. In 2020, in
Love v Commonwealth, the
High Court of Australia ruled that
Aboriginal Australians (as defined in
Mabo v Queensland (No 2)) cannot be considered aliens under the
Constitution of Australia, regardless of whether they were born in Australia or hold Australian citizenship.
Canada In Canada, the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act defines a
foreign national as "a person who is not a
Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, and includes a stateless person." The term "alien" is not used in federal statutes.
United Kingdom In the
United Kingdom, the
British Nationality Act 1981 defines an alien as a person who is not a
British citizen, a citizen of Ireland, a
Commonwealth citizen, or a
British protected person. The
Aliens Act 1905, the
British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 and the
Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919 were all products of the turbulence in the early part of the 20th century.
United States poster In the United States, the term "alien" is synonymous with
foreign national. Under the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of the United States, "[t]he term 'alien' means any person not a
citizen or
national of the United States." People born in
American Samoa or on
Swains Island are statutorily "non-citizen nationals." Others, such as natives of
Palau and the
Marshall Islands, are noncitizen "nonimmigrants without visas" for INA purposes. Every
refugee that is admitted to the United States under automatically becomes an "immigrant" and then a "special immigrant" after receiving a
green card. The INA contains 22 occurrences and a clear definition of the category of "alien lawfully admitted" and one occurrence of "illegal alien", with no explicit definition. The later is mentioned in a number of provisions under title 8 of the US code. Several provisions mention the term "unauthorized alien". "undocumented alien" or "undocumented person. According to
PolitiFact, the term "illegal alien" scarcely occurs in federal law and is undefined or part of an introductory title or limited to apply to certain individuals convicted of felonies.” According to Jeff Baker of the
Pepperdine School of Law, ‘alien’ may be a technical term of art, but ‘illegal alien’ is almost always pejorative in contemporary usage." The US Library of Congress replaced the term in 2021, adopting the
subject headings "noncitizens" and "illegal immigration" in 2021. There are a multitude of unique and highly complex U.S. domestic tax laws and regulations affecting the U.S. tax residency of foreign nationals, both nonresident aliens and resident aliens, in addition to income tax and social security tax treaties and
totalization agreements. "Alienage", i.e., citizenship status, has been prohibited since 1989 in
New York City from being considered for employment, under that city's Human Rights legislation. ==Other jurisdictions==