---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 7304"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "7304"
heading: "Citizenship or noncitizen nationality notation on merchant mariners’ documents"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/7304"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part E — Merchant Seamen Licenses, Certificates, and Documents"
  - "Chapter 73 — Merchant Mariners’ Documents"
---

# §7304. Citizenship or noncitizen nationality notation on merchant mariners’ documents


An individual applying for a merchant mariner’s document shall provide satisfactory proof that the individual is a citizen or noncitizen national (as such term is described in section 308 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ([8 U.S.C. 1408](/usc/8/1408.md))) of the United States before that notation is made on the document.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 542; Pub. L. 119–60, div. G, title LXXIII, § 7301(b)(2)(A), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1751.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 7304 | 46:643(b) |

Section 7304 specifies, that before a merchant mariner’s document is noted to specify that the individual is a U.S. citizen, the individual must provide satisfactory proof that he is a citizen. This does not impose a requirement of United States citizenship as a condition for issuance of a document.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2025—Pub. L. 119–60 inserted “or noncitizen nationality” after “Citizenship” in section catchline and “or noncitizen national (as such term is described in section 308 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1408))” after “citizen” in text.