alien
n. countablen. someone who lives in a country but is not a citizen of that place. It can also mean a creature from another planet in movies and books.
n. a person residing in a country who is not a citizen of that state; also, a hypothetical being from another world. In legal contexts, the term is increasingly replaced by 'non-citizen' or 'foreign national' to avoid negative connotations.
The law protects the rights of every resident alien.
After living in the country for ten years, he applied to change his status from resident alien to citizen.
The treaty outlines specific protections for enemy aliens during times of conflict, ensuring they are treated humanely despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between their nations.
From Middle English alien, a borrowing from Old French alien, aliene, from Latin aliēnus (“belonging to someone else”, later “exotic, foreign”), from Latin alius (“other”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élyos. Related to English else.
Often modified by adjectives like 'resident', 'illegal', or 'enemy' in legal and political discourse.