Membership in the Society is available to United States Citizens and legal permanent residents of the United States, who are of Scotch-Irish descent. The Scotch-Irish Society and the Scotch-Irish Foundation consider that the term "Scotch-Irish" generically designates those persons who are descended in either the male or female line from an ancestor, or ancestors, who emigrated to America, directly or indirectly, from Ulster, and whose families , hailing from Scotland, Britain, France and other places in Europe , had previously settled in Ulster about the year 1600 or thereafter.