Nationality versus Citizenship

[jeevcy 2]

I am a naturalized US citizen. My passport under Nationality says "USA". Just a curious doubt after reviewing my passport. What is the difference between "Nationality" and "Citizen"?

[newacct 688]

Nationality is the relationship that allows a person to get a passport from that country, get consular protection from that country, etc. There are some countries, including the US, where there are people who are nationals but not citizens. In the case of the US, people born in American Samoa are automatically US nationals at birth, but not US citizens (unless they acquire it from a US citizen parent). Non-citizen US nationals use US passports and can live and work in the US freely, but they cannot vote and don't enjoy any other benefits that are only for citizens. For other countries, all they care about is that you are a US national, and the distinction between citizens and non-citizen nationals is mainly an internal US issue that other countries don't care about.

The UK also has several types of British nationality of which British citizenship is only one type. In some Latin American countries (e.g. Mexico), nationals don't become citizens until they turn 18, so all people under 18 are non-citizen nationals.

Edited February 29, 2016 by newacct