An immigration law term; an individual who has relocated and changed his permanent residence to a state where he does not have citizenship but does have limited rights associated with residency.
Also, people who have been granted the right to live permanently in a state other than where they originally hold citizenship, by their new host state's immigration authorities.
The term permanent resident is preferred, inclusive of and, in most cases interchangeable with the term landed immigrant (see Writer's Union below).
Landed immigrant status (i.e being a permanent resident), is typically a condition precedent of an immigrant's application for citizenship.
In Canada, circa 1998, the term had no legal significance and was not used either within immigration or citizenship law but in Writers Union of Canada v Certification Application, cited at 84 CPR 3d 329, it was stated that:
"There are a number of types of status recognized in Canada other than citizenship: persons registered under the Indian Act, permanent residents, Convention refugees, visitors and Minister's permit holders may all lawfully be in Canada.
"The term landed immigrant is often used in lay terms to refer to those who have permanent resident status; to be "landed" is to have lawful permission to establish permanent residence in Canada."