Property
Constitutional bar on non-citizen land ownership, tenure governed by state law
Article XIII prohibits acquisition of land by non-citizens. Tenure itself is customary and governed state by state, so outside use proceeds by lease.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — State. Each state's land commission or land court determines title, and the customary rules differ between the four states.
Governing law
- Constitution of the FSM 1979 (art. XIII, s. 4 (land alienation))
- State constitutions and land codes of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap
- FSM Code, title 57land and land use, where applicable
- Constitution of the FSM 1979 (art. V (traditional rights))
In practice
Article XIII, section 4 provides that a non-citizen, or a corporation not wholly owned by citizens, may not acquire title to land or waters, which is a constitutional prohibition rather than a policy that could be relaxed by ordinary legislation. Everything foreign investors do therefore rests on leasehold, and lease terms are limited and regulated differently in each state. Underlying tenure is customary and varies substantially: Yap retains strongly hierarchical estate and clan structures, Pohnpei has both customary and some registered individual holdings following German-era reforms, Kosrae has more individualised title, and Chuuk remains predominantly lineage-based. Registration is incomplete everywhere, so ownership is frequently proved by evidence of custom and genealogy before a state land commission rather than by a title certificate. Identifying every consenting interest-holder is the recurring practical difficulty.