_{© https://www.equalrightsnow.org/tuaua}

How is the difference between nationals and citizens expressed?

The passport of all American Samoans has the following sentence imprinted: “THE BEARER IS A UNITED STATES NATIONAL AND NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN.”

American Samoans can only achieve citizenship through naturalization, like every non-American. The process is hard and costly. Some hurdles of it are relocating to a different part of the US, paying the application fee, as well as passing a moral character assessment, and going through an English and civics examination.

^{© https://citizenpath.com/american-citizenship-us-nationals}