A third country national (TCN) is an employee who is not a citizen of the home or host countries. For example, a French National working in the Hong Kong subsidiary of a US company would be considered a TCN employee. Various laws and treaties govern which country's labor laws and taxation apply to third country nationals.
Expatriates can be identified as domestic employees of a multinational company or its subsidiary with a foreign assignment, whereas third country nationals or TCNs are employees of a multinational company that work in a foreign country and do not have the citizenship of the parent company's home country or the country of employment.
