US Territories and Possessions


Citizens of US Territories and Possessions are eligible for special immigration benefits.  The most important of these is virtually immediate eligibility for US citizenship upon entry into the United States.  Most applicants for citizenship must wait five years as lawful permanent residents in the United States before applying for US citizenship.  Some persons may apply in a shorter period, for example, spouses of US citizens may apply for citizenship after three years.  But citizens of US Territories and Possessions may satisfy the entire period of physical presence and continuous residence by counting the period that they lived in the territory or possession.  For more information about citizenship, please visit the citizenship page.

Under Article IV, Section 3 of the US Constitution, the Congress has the authority to dispose of and to make laws in the administration of US Territories and Possessions. 

There are several types of US possessions:

  • Territory
    • Incorporated Territories: A territory having all of the specific rights of the US Constitution and eligible to apply for statehood.
    • Unincorporated Territories: A territory in which only fundamental rights of the US Constitution are guaranteed.  Unincorporated territories may not apply for statehood.   Only the US Congress has the authority to make an unincorporated territory an incorporated one.
    • Unorganized and Unincorporated Territories: A territory that the executive branch of the US government controls.
  • Commonwealth
    • A semi-autonomous  area under the authority of the United States, but with a local constitution and the ability to govern its internal affairs to a greater extent than a territory.

Territory is a general term for a region under the general authority of the United States, but with its own local laws.  The US Congress annexed the first territory, the Northwest Territory, in 1787.  All but 19 states were once territories.  There are currently numerous US possessions:

  1. Puerto Rico
    • Commonwealth (Residents Are US Citizens, but may not vote in Presidential elections and have no voting representation in Congress; an elected non-voting delegate may debate in Congress; island government controls all matters not addressed in the US Constitution)
    • Capital: San Juan (Puerto Rico is the Easternmost island of the Greater Antilles)
    • 1997 Population 3.8 million
    • Puerto Ricans decided in a plebiscite in 1993 not to be incorporated as a state
  2. Guam
    • Unincorporated Territory (Residents Are US Citizens, but may not vote in Presidential elections and have no voting representation in Congress; an elected non-voting delegate may debate in Congress)
    • Capital Agana (Guam is geographically part of the Mariana Islands)
    • 1997 Population 160,595
  3. US Virgin Islands
    • Unincorporated Territory (Residents Are US Citizens, but may not vote in Presidential elections and have no voting representation in Congress; an elected non-voting delegate may debate in Congress)
    • Capital: Charlotte Amalie (on St. Thomas)
    • 1997 Population 97,240
  4. American Samoa
    • Unorganized and Unincorporated Territory
    • Capital: Pago Pago
    • 1997 Population 61,819
  5. Northern Mariana Islands
    • Commonwealth Since 1986
    • Capital: Saipan
    • 1997 Population 63,765
  6. Midway Island
    • Unorganized and Unincorporated US Territory
    • Uninhabited
    • US military only
  7. The Marshall Islands