An alien insurer is best described as

• A. is an insurer operating in the U.S. but headquartered outside the US
• B. is an insurer headquartered in the U.S.
• C. an insurer that only sells to aliens
• D. an insurer that operates exclusively outside the U.S.

Answer: (D)

An alien insurer is an insurer organized under the laws of a country other than the United States. This means it isn’t domiciled in the U.S. and is governed by foreign law. The choice that best matches this idea is an insurer that operates exclusively outside the U.S.—it clearly isn’t conducting business in the United States and is governed by a country’s laws other than the U.S. (the essence of being alien). The other descriptions don’t capture that foreign-domiciled status as directly: a company headquartered outside the U.S. could still operate in the U.S. (and would still be alien, but the statement about operating only outside the U.S. makes the foreign-organization aspect explicit).