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Suppose a person must be either a US citizen or a foreigner that has lived in the US for over 10 years in order to apply for some financial aid.

If John is a Japanese national that has lived in the US for 11 years and has applied for it successfully, can we say the requirement of US citizenship is "waived" in his case?

I'd appreciate your help.

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  • There is no requirement that the person be a US citizen. Surely you understand the word or. US Citizenship is merely one of the terms of the requirement. – Tᴚoɯɐuo May 30 '18 at 11:28
  • What if the wording is rephrased as "If you are a US citizen, you can apply for the aid. Alternatively, if you are a foreign national that has lived in the US for over 10 years, you can apply, too."? If the requirement is worded as such, can we say the citizenship requirement is "waived"? – Apollyon May 30 '18 at 11:34
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    Alternatively is just a synonym for or. You can’t waive a requirement that isn’t a requirement. – J.R.♦ May 30 '18 at 11:35
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    If a foreigner who had lived in the country for only four years was allowed to apply for aid because of some special circumstance, you could say that the residency requirement for foreign nationals had been waived. But you could not say in that case that the citizenship requirement had been waived because if the provision is not applicable it cannot be waived. Only applicable requirements can be waived. The citizenship requirement is not applicable in that case. – Tᴚoɯɐuo May 30 '18 at 11:44
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If John is a Japanese national that has lived in the US for 11 years and has applied for it successfully, can we say the requirement of US citizenship is waived?

No, because the requirement was met. (US citizenship by itself is not a requirement.)

Had John only lived in the US for 8 years, yet he still applied successfully, then we might say the requirement was waived, because someone with the authority to do so decided to give John the financial aid despite his not meeting the citizenship or 10-year residency requirement.

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    @Apollyon - You’re right; I got confused. Still, you said “or”, not “and". The requirement is: either a US citizen or a foreigner that has lived in the US for over 10 years. Therefore, the requirement is met – but I’ll try to clarify my answer. – J.R.♦ May 30 '18 at 11:30

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