| Administrative divisions of the United States |
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| First level |
| States — Commonwealth |
| Second level |
| County |
| Third level |
| Cities, towns and villages |
In the terminology of the United States insular areas, a Commonwealth is a type of organized but unincorporated dependent territory.
The definition of "Commonwealth" according to current U.S. State Department policy (as codified in the department's Foreign Affairs Manual) reads: "The term 'Commonwealth' does not describe or provide for any specific political status or relationship. It has, for example, been applied to both states and territories. When used in connection with areas under U.S. sovereignty that are not states, the term broadly describes an area that is self-governing under a constitution of its adoption and whose right of self-government will not be unilaterally withdrawn by Congress".[1]
There are currently two United States insular areas classified with the status of commonwealth, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico.
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Of the current U.S. insular areas, the term was first used by Puerto Rico in 1952 as its formal name in English ("Commonwealth of Puerto Rico"). The formal name in Spanish for Puerto Rico is "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico," ("Free Associated State of Puerto Rico").
Despite the Spanish translation of the term "commonwealth", Puerto Rico's relationship with United States is not a Compact of Free Association (which is the case for the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands). As sovereign states, these islands have full right to conduct their own foreign relations, while the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is part of the United States as a territory. ”[2]
The territory was organized by the Foraker Act in 1900, which was amended by the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917. The drafting of the Constitution of Puerto Rico by its residents was authorized by Congress in 1951, and the result approved in 1952. Puerto Rico have held several referendum with the options of U.S. statehood, independence and commonwealth; the commonwealth option has won.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has a grade of sovereingty equal as a State of the Union. The residents of Puerto Rico are United States citizens and they are represented in Congress by a Resident Commissioner with voice but without vote. Residents of Puerto Rico generally do not pay federal income taxes (however, they pay Social Security, Medicare and Unemployment taxes) and cannot vote on Presidential elections.
Puerto Rico has sports sovereignty with its own national olympic team. Puerto Rico also participates in different International Organizations such as the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) (Associate Member).[3]
In 1976, Congress approved the mutually negotiated Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States.[4] Prior to November 28, 2009, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) did not apply in the CNMI. Rather, a separate immigration system existed in the CNMI. This system was established under the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America (“Covenant”), which was signed in 1975 and codified as 48 U.S.C. § 1801. The Covenant was unilaterally amended by the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 CNRA approved by the U.S. Congress on May 8, 2008, thus altering the CNMI’s immigration system. Specifically, CNRA § 702(a) amended the Covenant to state that “the provisions of the ‘immigration laws’ (as defined in section 101(a)(17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(17))) shall apply to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”2 Further, under CNRA § 702(a), the “immigration laws,” as well as the amendments to the Covenant, “shall . . . supersede and replace all laws, provisions, or programs of the Commonwealth relating to the admission of aliens and the removal of aliens from the Commonwealth.”[5]
Transition to U.S. Immigration Law began November 28, 2009 in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). CNMI's immigration laws have been replaced by the INA and other U.S. immigration laws.[6][7]
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was an insular area that held commonwealth status from March 24, 1934 until July 4, 1946. The United States recognized the future independence of the Philippines in 1934 but called for a transitional period from 1934 until 1946 when the Philippines became fully independent.[8]