Why is 我的朋友今年住在美国 translated to both "my friend [is living in / lived in] America this year"? Here I am trying to translate two different English sentences to Chinese. 


"My friend is living in America this year." 

He is still living in America at the point of stating this fact.

Translation : 我的朋友今年住在美国
"My friend lived in America this year." 

Maybe he lived only for an earlier part of the year in America and right now he is living in Hong Kong.

Translation : 我的朋友今年住在美国


I have understood so far that Chinese is a contextual language. Since both the sentences have the same translation (At least at my level of learning :), could you please show me how to put these sentences in Chinese such that their context is clear. 

Also, can it be done without having to share any additional information like he is "currently living in Hong Kong"?

Of course, please correct me if my above translations are incorrect. I was wondering whether we will add 了 in the second sentence as there is a change of state (was living -> not living now).
Chinese language doesn't have tense. To indicate event happened in the past, you need to add time reference in the context or verb particle that indicate past verb

Example:

我的朋友今年在美国(住过) = My friend (had lived) in America this year

过 is a verb particle that indicates 'experienced' aspect of the verb

~

我的朋友今年(曾住)在美国 = My friend (had lived) in America this year

曾 is an adverb that indicates 'once'; formerly

~

You can use either or both in the same sentence:

我的朋友今年(曾)在美国住(过)