Parent Country National
• A parent-country national (PCN) is a person working in a country other than his/her country of origin (Home / Native Country).
• Such a person is also referred to as an expatriate.
Host Country National
• A host country national (HCN) is an employee of an organization who is the citizen of the country in which the foreign subsidiary is located.
Third Country National
• Third Country National (TCN) describes and individuals of other nationalities hired by a government or government sanctioned contractor who represent neither the contracting government (Home Country) nor the host country or area of operations.
Example
• Denise is a human resource (HR) specialist that works for a large multinational conglomerate. Her company is based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. However, the company employs people from over a dozen different countries and cultures around the world. Denise interacts with three general types of employees: parent company nationals, host country nationals, and third-country nationals. Let's take a look at each type:
Continue…• Denise works with Arnold. While Arnold is a citizen of the United States, he has
taken an assignment with the company at its foreign subsidiary in Berlin, Germany. Arnold is considered a parent-national, also known as an expatriate. An expatriate is a citizen of a company's home country working abroad at one of the company's foreign subsidiaries.
• Arnold works with Gunther in the Berlin office. Gunther is a citizen of Germany. He's considered a host country national, which is an employee that is a citizen of the country where a company's foreign subsidiary is located.
• Adrienna works with Arnold and Gunther in Berlin. She's a citizen of Italy. She's considered a third-country national because she's an employee that is a citizen of one country, working in another country for a company headquartered in a third country.