Foreign agent

A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the protections offered to those working in their official capacity for a diplomatic mission.

Foreign agents may be citizens of the host country. In contemporary English, the term has a generally pejorative connotation. A covert foreign agent, also known as a secret agent of a foreign government, may in some countries be presumed to be engaging in espionage.