“Must a principal investigator be a U.S. citizen to receive a research grant award?”

Several grant types have a citizenship requirement, such as trainees appointed to training grants or recipients of fellowships and career development awards. However, most research grants, e.g., R01 and R21, do not require that investigators or key personnel be U.S. citizens.

For a given funding opportunity announcement, any citizenship requirements will be listed in Section III. Eligibility Requirements under “Eligible Individuals.” See Foreign Workers on NIH Awards SOP for further guidance.