Title 48, Territories and Insular PossessionsRelease 119-102
§1501 Lands in Territories
Title 48 › CHAPTER 11 — ALIEN OWNERS OF LAND › § 1501
Summary
Non-citizens and people who have not legally declared their intent to become U.S. citizens cannot buy or own land in U.S. Territories, unless the law later allows it. Any land rights given to foreign citizens by existing treaties stay valid only while those treaties are in force.
Full Legal Text
Title 48, §1501
Territories and Insular Possessions, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
No alien or person who is not a citizen of the United States, or who has not declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States in the manner provided by law shall acquire title to or own any land in any of the Territories of the United States except as hereinafter provided. The prohibition of this section shall not apply to cases in which the right to hold or dispose of lands in the United States is secured by existing treaties to citizens or subjects of foreign countries, which rights, so far as they may exist by force of any such treaty, shall continue to exist so long as such treaties are in force, and no longer.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification Section was formerly classified to section 71 of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
48 U.S.C. § 1501
Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102