Immigration
Compact right of US residence, entry permits inbound
FSM citizens may live and work in the United States visa-free under the Compact. Non-citizens entering the FSM need entry permits, and employment requires authorisation.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Immigration is an enumerated national power, so entry and permits are national even though the activity the permit supports is often state-regulated.
Governing law
- FSM Code, title 50immigration
- Compact of Free Association (art. IV, s. 141)
- Foreign Investment Act 1997
- FSM Code, title 7citizenship
In practice
Section 141 of the Compact allows FSM citizens to enter, reside and work in the United States without a visa as habitual residents, and migration to Guam, Hawaii and the mainland is demographically significant. That status is not US permanent residence, and access to federal benefits has changed with US legislation, so US advice is needed on the US side. Inbound, entry permits are issued nationally and employment of non-citizens requires authorisation together with any foreign investment permit. Dual citizenship is restricted: the Constitution requires a citizen who acquires another nationality to register or renounce, and this trips up children born abroad to migrant parents. There is no investor or property route to residence, since land cannot be acquired by non-citizens.