Gun Ownership in the USA as a Foreigner: What Federal Law Says

Whether a foreigner may own a firearm in the USA is decided first by federal law, based on immigration status. This page sets out the framework for every non-citizen: the rule in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), the definitions used by the ATF, the form you fill out at the dealer and what happens if you get it wrong. What this means in detail for visa holders, green card holders and Texas is covered on separate pages.

Whether a foreigner may own a firearm in the USA is decided first by federal law, based on immigration status. This page sets out the framework for every non-citizen: the rule in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), the definitions used by the ATF, the form you fill out at the dealer and what happens if you get it wrong. It has four sister pages, each with its own job. Guns on a visa covers nonimmigrants only, from the E-2 to the ESTA visitor. Buying a gun with a green card walks permanent residents through the purchase step by step, with the rules in Texas, Florida, California and New York. Texas gun license explains the Texas License to Carry, and Guns by the numbers provides the official statistics.

One thing up front, and it applies to every one of these pages: whether you may buy or own a gun depends on your status and your state. Check both before any purchase, against your own situation and the documents you actually hold. This page explains the rules; it is no substitute for checking your case.

1Two levels: federal law says who, the state says how

Coming from Europe, you probably know gun laws that start with need: you have to show a good reason, as a hunter or sport shooter for example, before you get a license. America starts somewhere else. The Second Amendment to the Constitution reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” In America you don't have to prove a need. The question is whether a law disqualifies you.

The laws come from two directions. Federal law, above all the Gun Control Act in Chapter 44 of Title 18 of the United States Code, decides who may own, buy or transport a gun at all, and how federally licensed dealers sell. The states add a second layer on top: waiting periods, purchase permits, minimum ages, rules for carrying in public. A state can be stricter than federal law, but it cannot allow anyone what federal law prohibits. So if you live in Texas, you live under different rules than someone in California or New York, yet the same federal rule on immigration status applies to both.

By the way, there is no national registry of guns or gun owners in the USA. Federal law explicitly forbids one: under 18 U.S.C. § 926(a), no rule may establish a system for registering firearms, firearm owners or firearm transactions. The dealer keeps the records.

2The core rule: 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)

The key rule for immigrants sits in a single paragraph. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), it is unlawful for any person to ship, transport, possess or receive firearms or ammunition if, as an alien, they are either (A) illegally or unlawfully in the United States or (B) admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa, subject to the exceptions in § 922(y)(2).

Two things stand out. First, the ban expressly covers ammunition too, not just the gun. Second, subsection (B) applies to people who are in the country completely legally. An E-2 investor, an L-1 manager or an H-1B engineer is lawfully in the USA and still falls under the ban unless an exception applies. For many newcomers, that is the real surprise: it's not lawful presence that opens the door, but the type of status.

In mirror image, § 922(d)(5) forbids anyone to sell a gun or ammunition to a person they know or have reasonable cause to believe falls under one of these bans. That applies to dealers and private sellers alike. The ATF has written the same rule into its regulations, 27 CFR § 478.32.

3Who counts as what: the definitions in 27 CFR § 478.11

What the words in the statute mean is set out in the ATF's list of definitions, 27 CFR § 478.11. For immigrants, five terms matter.

Alien means any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. That includes green card holders.

Nonimmigrant alien means an alien in one of the nonimmigrant categories under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15). These include the B-1 and B-2 visitor visas, the E-1 and E-2 treaty visas, the H-1B, the L-1 for transferred employees, the O-1 and most other temporary visas. The ATF sums it up like this: it generally means tourists, students, business travelers and temporary workers who enter for a set period of time.

Nonimmigrant visa means a visa properly issued to an alien as a nonimmigrant by a competent officer. If you enter without a visa, you don't have one.

Alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States covers more than people who entered without inspection. It expressly includes a nonimmigrant whose authorized period of stay has expired or who has violated the terms of their category. Overstay your visa, or work on a visitor visa, and you slip into subsection (A), and there is no hunting license exception for subsection (A).

State of residence means the state where a person lives with the intention of making a home there. The regulation gives two examples that could have been written for immigrants. An alien who spends a three-week vacation in a state is not a resident there, however long the vacation lasts. An alien who comes to work for three years, rents a house, moves in their belongings and lives there with their family is a resident.

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4Status by status: from citizen to ESTA visitor

The statute and the definitions produce a clear order. Citizens have it easiest: only the general disqualifications listed further down apply to them. Once you are naturalized as an American, you stand like any other citizen when buying a gun. How to get there is explained in the guide Becoming a US citizen.

Green card holders are not nonimmigrants. Asked whether a green card holder is a nonimmigrant alien, the ATF answers with a plain no: they are a permanent resident. The ban in § 922(g)(5)(B) therefore does not apply to them, though the other disqualifications do, and at the dealer they need their Alien Number.

Visa holders on an E-1, E-2, L-1, H-1B, O-1 or a visitor visa fall under the ban. They need one of the exceptions in § 922(y)(2) or a waiver. This applies to each person individually, including spouses and children in the country on a derivative visa such as E-2 or L-2.

ESTA visitors enter under the Visa Waiver Program, which under 8 U.S.C. § 1187 allows visa-free visits of up to 90 days. Because they have no visa, the ATF's reading is that they do not fall under § 922(g)(5)(B). But the ATF expressly adds that they must meet the state of residence rules. Under the definitions, a vacationer has no state of residence. In practice, that almost always rules out buying from a dealer.

Lose your status and you lose the exception. This is the point visa holders underestimate most: if your stay expires or you violate your status, subsection (A) applies, and a hunting license no longer helps. If you have a gun in the cabinet at that moment, you possess it unlawfully.

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5The exceptions and the waiver

For visa holders, § 922(y)(2) lists four exceptions. The ban does not apply to an alien lawfully admitted under a nonimmigrant visa who (A) entered for lawful hunting or sporting purposes or holds a hunting license or permit lawfully issued in the United States, (B) is an official representative of a foreign government accredited to the US government or to an international organization headquartered in the United States, (C) is a foreign official or distinguished visitor so designated by the State Department, or (D) is a law enforcement officer of a friendly foreign government on official business.

For private individuals, the hunting license is the only exception that really matters. The ATF has published two clarifications on it. The license must be valid and unexpired, and it does not have to come from the state where you buy the firearm; a license from any state will do. Under 27 CFR § 478.11, you only count as having entered for sporting purposes if you are coming to an organized shooting competition or to exhibit at a hunting or sporting arms trade show. How to get a hunting license as a newcomer, and what Hunter Education involves, is covered in the guide Hunting license in the USA.

There is also a waiver from the Attorney General under § 922(y)(3). The petition must show that you have lived in the US continuously for at least 180 days, and it must include a written statement from your embassy or consulate authorizing the purchase and confirming that nothing other than your visa disqualifies you. It is granted if it serves the interests of justice and does not endanger public safety. According to the ATF, the petition is filed with the ATF itself.

6At the dealer: Form 4473, Alien Number, NICS

If you buy from a federally licensed dealer, a Federal Firearms Licensee or FFL, you fill out Form 4473. 27 CFR § 478,124 sets out what it must contain: name, sex, residence address, date and place of birth, height, weight, country of citizenship, the Alien Number or Admission Number issued by the Department of Homeland Security, and state of residence. The Social Security number is expressly optional; it only helps avoid mix-ups.

According to the ATF, the Alien Number is a seven-, eight- or nine-digit number the Department of Homeland Security assigns to a foreign national when it opens their file. The Admission Number is the number on the I-94 arrival record. Without one of these numbers, the dealer may not sell to a non-citizen, and according to the ATF that applies even if the buyer holds a state permit that replaces the NICS check. If you rely on an exception, you have to prove it: the dealer records the type of documentation, such as the hunting license, on the form and attaches a copy.

Next, the dealer runs the buyer through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS for short. If the system reports no prohibition within three business days, the dealer may transfer the firearm under § 922(t). For non-citizens, according to the FBI, the NICS Section checks with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) whether the person is lawfully in the country. Dealers also sell handguns only to residents of their own state; rifles and shotguns may, under certain conditions, go to out-of-state buyers too. How this works in practice is explained on the page about buying with a green card.

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7The rules that apply to everyone

Immigration status is just one of nine prohibitions in § 922(g). The others apply equally to citizens, green card holders and visa holders, and for newcomers from Europe two of them matter most. The first is a conviction. Paragraph (g)(1) covers a crime punishable by more than one year in prison "in any court", meaning any court anywhere. The second is the use of controlled substances under (g)(3); what counts is the list in the federal Controlled Substances Act, not the law of your home country.

Then there is § 922(n): anyone under indictment for such a crime may not receive a firearm, even before a verdict. Federal law also sets a minimum age at the dealer: 18 for rifles and shotguns and 21 for all other firearms, above all handguns, under § 922(b)(1). Many states add further prohibitions. NICS statistics count them as a separate category.

8What a violation costs: criminal and immigration consequences

A violation of § 922(g) is not a minor infraction. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(8), it carries up to 15 years in prison plus a fine. Making false statements on Form 4473 when you buy violates § 922(a)(6), which under § 924(a)(2) carries up to ten years.

For immigrants there is a second bill, and it is often the bigger one. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(C), any foreign national convicted after admission of buying, selling, possessing or carrying a firearm in violation of any law is deportable. That applies to visa holders and green card holders alike. A violation of § 922(g)(5) also counts as an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43), the most serious category in immigration law; anyone convicted of one can no longer show the good moral character required for naturalization under § 1101(f)(8). A single mistake with a firearm can end your entire path to America.

9And then there's your state

Clearing federal law only gets you halfway. Every state adds its own rules on top. Florida requires a three-day waiting period, excluding weekends and holidays, and allows concealed carry only for citizens and permanent residents. California routes almost every purchase through a dealer, with a ten-day waiting period and a safety certificate. New York requires a license from the local authority for handguns. Texas has no state purchase permit, runs checks through the FBI's NICS, and lets adults aged 21 and over who may lawfully possess a firearm carry without a license.

For an overview of the purchase rules in these four states, see the page about buying with a green card. The Texas License to Carry has its own page, and where that license is valid outside Texas is covered in the guide Concealed carry and reciprocity. If you want to bring your own firearms from Europe, as a nonimmigrant you need an ATF import permit on Form 6 NIA; what that means for your move is explained in the guide Moving to the USA: customs. To see how common guns really are in America, the official figures are on the page Guns by the numbers, and the bigger picture of American freedom is in the guide Freedom in the USA.

It all comes back to where we started. What you may do depends on your status and your state, and both can change: with a new visa, with a green card, with a move across a state line. Check again before every purchase.

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In short

• Federal law decides who may possess a firearm; the states add their own rules on buying, carrying and licenses.
• Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), foreign nationals unlawfully in the US and nonimmigrant visa holders may not possess firearms or ammunition; visa holders have exceptions, above all a valid US hunting license.
• Green card holders are not nonimmigrants; ESTA visitors are not covered under the ATF's interpretation, but usually have no state of residence.
• At the dealer, your citizenship, Alien Number or Admission Number and state of residence go on Form 4473, followed by the NICS check.
• A violation is a federal crime and can lead to deportation; check your status and your state before every purchase.

How we help you

• Visa RoadmapIn writing: which visa fits you and your family, prepared with the immigration attorney on the firm's team.
• Visa and Green Card ConsultationWhich route to the USA fits you, settled in one conversation.
• Moving to the USAVisa, bank account, taxes and where to live: your move with Mount Bonnell Advisors.