Individuals from American Samoa should only complete Form I-9 if they are working in the United States. For employment eligibility verification purposes, the “United States” is defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as the continental United States (including the District of Columbia), Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Although American Samoa is a U.S. territory, it is not included in this definition, and is subject to its own territorial immigration laws rather than the INA.
Individuals from American Samoa are generally noncitizen U.S. nationals. They should select noncitizen national on Form I-9, Section 1 and may present the same documentation as U.S. citizens for completion of Section 2. Noncitizen nationals are persons born in American Samoa, certain former citizens of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and certain children of noncitizen nationals born abroad.