nonIndians

NonIndians is a plural term used in English to refer to people who are not Indian in two common senses: not citizens or nationals of the Republic of India, or not Indigenous peoples of a given territory. The lack of precision means the term can refer to foreign visitors, immigrants, or residents who hold Indian citizenship; or to people outside Indigenous communities in regions such as North America, Australia, and New Zealand. In India, non-Indian or foreign nationals are standard terms in law and administration to distinguish non-citizens from Indian citizens, with implications for visas, residency, and rights. In settler-colonial contexts, older legal and historical texts sometimes use variants of non-Indians to describe people who are not members of Indigenous groups, a framing that has been criticized for oversimplifying identities and reinforcing binaries.

The term is often seen as imprecise or outdated in discussions about Indigenous rights, and many writers prefer non-Indigenous or specify the group (for example, foreign nationals in migration contexts, or non-Indigenous people when referring to mainstream populations). The use of non-Indian is controversial in India as well, where it may be clarified as foreign nationals or non-citizens. Because identity is multidimensional, demographic analysis typically relies on more specific categories such as citizenship, ethnicity, or Indigenous status rather than a blanket term like nonIndians.

See also: Indigeneity, Citizenship, Immigration status, Indigenous peoples.