Meanings
plural foreign nationals
- A non-naturalized citizen of a country
Three townhouses in Richmond, B.C., are being used to house foreign nationals pregnant with “passport babies,” and are among numerous local housing destinations for birth tourists.
2012 March 7, Byron Chu, “Hotel Linked to ‘Passport Babies’”, in Toronto Sun, retrieved 18 Feb 20142 more examples
Under federal law, it is a crime for anyone to enter into the US without the approval of an immigration officer -- it's a misdemeanor offense that carries fines and no more than six months in prison. Many foreign nationals, however, enter the country legally every day on valid work or travel visas, and end up overstaying for a variety of reasons. But that's not a violation of federal criminal law -- it's a civil violation that gets handled in immigration court proceedings.
2017, Are undocumented immigrants committing a crime? Not necessarily CNNIn the last two years crackdowns on various sectors of the economy, as well as prominent Chinese businessmen, have caused uncertainty. These have recently widened to include foreign nationals and firms, heightening worries in the international business community.
2023 November 15, Tessa Wong, “Xi Jinping arrives in US as his Chinese Dream sputters”, in BBC
Translations
French ressortissant, ressortissante
- ressortissantTranslations
- ressortissanteTranslations
Cite this entry
foreign national. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreign%20national
“foreign national.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreign%20national. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “foreign national,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/foreign%20national.
Source: foreign national on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.