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I have some doubts on the definitions of US national and US citizenship.
Let's suppose: A man was born in Los Angeles, CA. So he was a US national and US citizen. When he was 18 years old, he gave up his US citizenship, and obtained Chinese citizenship. Then he is no longer a US citizen, but is he still a US national? Is he required a US visa if he wants to travel in US?
From immihelp.com:
U.S. National
All U.S. citizens are U.S. nationals, but there are some who are U.S. nationals but are not U.S. citizens.
Definition
U.S. national is a person born in or having ties with "an outlying possession of the United States" which is as of 2005, only American Samoa and Swains Island. Additionally, it also includes those individuals born abroad to two U.S. national parents, or those born abroad to one alien parent and one U.S. national parent. Additionally, there is a residency requirement for the parents of the child prior to birth in order to transmit U.S. nationality.
Past U.S. nationals
In the past, those who were born in Guam (1898-1950), Puerto Rico (1898-1917), the U.S. Virgin Islands (1917-1927) or the Philippines (1898-1946) where U.S. nationals. However, now those who are born in Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands are full U.S. citizens, and the Philippines is an independent country and the citizenship was never accorded to them.
As far as I understand, he is no longer a US national and therefore he will need a visa to travel to USA.
A "US National" is a legal term and is so defined in 8 U.S.C. §1408
8 U.S.C. §1408 Definition of U.S. National
...the following shall be nationals, but not citizens, of the United States at birth:
(1) A person born in an outlying possession of the United States on or after the date of formal acquisition of such possession;
(2) A person born outside the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of whom are nationals, but not citizens, of the United States, and have had a residence in the United States, or one of its outlying possessions prior to the birth of such person;
(3) A person of unknown parentage found in an outlying possession of the United States while under the age of five years, until shown, prior to his attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in such outlying possession; and
(4) A person born outside the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a national, but not a citizen, of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than seven years in any continuous period of ten years—
(A) during which the national parent was not outside the United States or its outlying possessions for a continuous period of more than one year, and
(B) at least five years of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years.
Reference:
IRS Definition of US National
An individual who owes his sole allegiance to the United States, including all U.S. citizens, and including some individuals who are not U.S. citizens. For tax purposes the term "U.S. national" refers to individuals who were born in American Samoa or were born in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands who have chosen to be treated as U.S. nationals and not as U.S. citizens.
So US Nationals are people born in American Samoa or Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands who decided that they don't want to be citizens of the united states. They refuse, and so based on that voluntary choice they become US Nationals. They can still get a US Passport, they can go to US and live there and get a job as a US Citizen. However they can not vote in National Elections. So US Nationals can't vote in National elections but besides that have the same abilities as US Citizens.
Reference
Your Question
Giving up the citizenship of US means that the person is now considered a Chinese National, and would be treated by passport control the same as any other citizen of PRC coming for a visit, or on business and the will require a visa from a US Consulate in China to even board an airplane to fly to the US from China.
Since the definition of US National involves being born on 2 islands outside US mainland, while your friend was born in LA, they were considered a native born US citizen until the moment they gave up their citizenship and passport. From that moment on they became a citizen of China.
Flow in and out of the US is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. They define a national to be:
National - A person owing permanent allegiance to a state.
It does not say that that permanent allegiance must be singular. That is, it doesn't restrict you to having allegiance to only one state.
However, I think it's pretty clear that renouncing your citizenship carries with it the weight of renouncing your allegiance.
Note that the definition of a US national for tax purposes and for visa purposes may be different.
The answer is NO, he is not a U.S. national.
When you say "give up his U.S. citizenship", what is actually happening is he is giving up his U.S. nationality. He is giving up U.S. nationality according to 8 USC 1481(a)(5):
(a) A person who is a national of the United States whether by birth or naturalization, shall lose his nationality by voluntarily performing any of the following acts with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality—
(5) making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State;
Giving up U.S. nationality also causes him to not have U.S. citizenship, because U.S. citizens must be U.S. nationals.
There is no provision in the current law for loss of U.S. citizenship apart from the loss of U.S. nationality.
(Though as an interesting historical note, there was a situation when someone could give up U.S. citizenship but keep U.S. nationality: Existing residents of the Northern Mariana Islands gained U.S. citizenship in 1986 under section 301 of the CNMI Covenant with the U.S. Under section 302, people who gained citizenship under section 301 could choose to become non-citizen U.S. nationals within 6 months of the 1986 date, or 6 months of turning 18, whichever was later. The choosing period has long passed for any eligible person, and it does not apply to the OP's example which is someone who was a citizen at birth.)
Under the new American laws. Any person who gave up there U.S. citizenship. Can no longer enter America. So I do not think He can get a visa to come to America. These laws have been passed in the last 2 years under B.O.
i am late to this thread. The outlying territories only allow a person to be a non citizen national unless they apply for US CITIZENSHIP. People born in the continental 48 states have DUAL citizenship status...they are a non citizen national (state national) and a US CITIZEN status, which is NOT the same as a citizen of the United States of America. He need not renounce his US CITIZENSHIP to declare he is a state national...he is both. All people who are both can "travel" in and out of both of these statuses, while maintaining their rights in the 13 amendments prior to the 14th, where legal fictions were created as US CITIZEN that has priveleges and immunities.
