American Samoan citizenship and nationality

American Samoa is a territory of the United States with a population of about 44,000 people, but the people of American Samoa do not have birthright citizenship in the United States (unless at least one of their parents was a U.S. citizen at the time of their birth). Instead of being considered citizens, they are classified as non-citizen "nationals" of the United States. American Samoa is the only permanently inhabited territory of the United States whose inhabitants do not have birthright citizenship.

Non-citizen nationals do not have full protection of their rights, though they may reside and work in the United States and can gain entry without a visa. Territorial citizens do not have the ability for full participation in national politics and American Samoans cannot serve as officers in the US military or in many federal jobs, are unable to bear arms, vote in local elections, serve on a jury, or hold public office or civil-service positions even when residing in a US state. Like non-Americans, American Samoans can apply to become naturalized U.S. citizens, but they may only do so after moving away from American Samoa to become a resident of a US state.

Nationality is the legal means in which inhabitants acquire formal membership in a nation without regard to its governance type, whereas citizenship is the relationship between the government and the governed, i.e. a set of rights and obligations that each owes the other once someone has been classified as a citizen of a nation.

American Samoa consists of a group of two coral atolls and five volcanic islands in the South Pacific Ocean of Oceania. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1830 by British missionaries, who were followed by explorers from the United States, in 1839, and German traders in 1845. Based upon the Tripartite Convention of 1899, the United States, Great Britain, and Germany agreed to partition the islands into German Samoa and American Samoa. Though the territory was ceded to the United States in a series of transactions in 1900, 1904, and 1925, Congress did not formally confirm its acquisition until 1929.