The legal status or condition of being a foreign national or non-citizen living in a country.
From alien (foreigner, from Latin alienus) + -age (a suffix forming nouns, from Old French, ultimately from Latin). The term emerged in medieval English legal contexts to describe the status of foreigners under the law.
Historically, alienage determined whether someone could own land, inherit property, or serve in government—restrictions that shaped immigration policy for centuries and still influence modern citizenship law.
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