Our Team here at Liquor License Advisor often receives the question of whether someone must be a U.S. citizen to obtain a liquor license in Massachusetts. Legally, they do: The way the law currently stands, the manager of record for a business must be a U.S. citizen to obtain a liquor license, which means that a non-citizen cannot be listed as the manager of record if he or she requires a liquor license for his or her business. Here in Massachusetts, the license owner must actually be a state resident as well to go on record as a manager or owner of a liquor license.