undocumented status
Without official papers
Undocumented status is the condition of living in a country without legal authorization—lacking a visa, residency permit, or citizenship.
The term arose as a neutral alternative to "illegal alien" or "illegal immigrant," which critics considered dehumanizing.
Someone with undocumented status may have entered without inspection, overstayed a visa, or fallen out of legal status: Her undocumented status made it impossible to get a driver's license.
The phrase appears frequently in discussions of immigration policy and access to services.
- immigrantOne who resettles abroad
- deportationLegal expulsion from country
- deportation orderLegal mandate requiring departure
- visaTravel authorization stamp
- asylumShelter from persecution
refugee · border · border crossing · papers · path to citizenship · alien · migrant · shadow · crossing · fear · ICE · immigration raid · sanctuary · safe haven · detention · green card · work permit · permit
- immigrationimmigrant, immigrants, visa, refugee, citizenship
- migrationmigration, immigrants, refugees, immigration, emigration
- family lossorphan, motherless, fatherless, parentless, abandonment
- Anti-Asian Racismhate crimes, xenophobia, stereotyping, slurs, internment
- Latin American immigrantsSalvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans
undocumented statuscitizenship
Status as state member
legal status · legal residency · permanent residency · green card holder · birthright citizenship
undocumented statusbirthright citizenship
Nationality by birth location
undocumented, status, document, documented, documentation, documents, documenting, documentary, states