Talofa!
Well, who knew that US citizens need a passport to visit American Samoa? Many people do… but not us….until NOW! We were able to get in without our passports, but we needed to get an “OK to board” form from the American Samoa Office in Honolulu near the airport ($50 each). Then, once we got to American Samoa, we had to go to the Executive Office Building and get a “CI”, or Certified Identification document ($100 each), to leave the island. We also had to get photos taken for each CI ($7 each). The good news is that the CI is good for ONE WHOLE YEAR!
So, now that we have been to all 5 inhabited US territories (Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and now American Samoa), we found out the American Samoa is a horse of a different color. The citizens born there are not “US Citizens”, but are “US Nationals”. They cannot vote in US elections and need permission to get to the US. They do have an expedited process to get US citizenship, if they choose to do so. Also, US Citizens who are not of American Samoan heritage cannot buy and own land in American Samoa. We believe that is true in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands as well. People born in Guam after 1950 are US Citizens, but people born in the Northern Mariana Islands are US Nationals.
For more information, try https://www.usimmigration.org/articles/u-s-citizen-vs-u-s-national-what-is-the-difference