How is citizenship acquired?
What law is followed in the Philippines? In the United States?
What is dual citizenship?
Is dual citizenship recognized in the Philippines?
If I am a dual citizen, can I file a Petition for Recognition with the Philippine Consulate?
If I am a dual citizen, do I need to obtain a Certificate of Recognition mentioned in Question Number 4 before I can get a Philippine Passport?
How is Filipino citizenship lost?
I am a Filipino who was naturalized as an American citizen. Do I have dual citizenship?
How is Filipino citizenship reacquired?
What is a Certificate of Recognition and how do I obtain it?
Modern law recognizes three distinct ways of acquiring citizenship:
1. Jus sanguinis - or Law of the Blood. Under this principle, children acquire the citizenship of their parents. 2. Jus soli - or Law of the Soil. Under this principle, children acquire the citizenship of the place of birth.
3. Naturalization - the legal act of adopting an alien as a citizen.
The Philippines follows the principle of jus sanguinis. Hence, children born of fathers or mothers who are Filipino citizens are also Filipino citizens. The United States follows the principle of jus soli. Hence, children born in the United States are American citizens.
Both the Philippines and the United States also have laws on naturalization. Hence, an alien in the Philippines can become a Filipino citizen. An alien in the United States can also become an American citizen.
Dual citizenship is the status of a person who is a citizen of two or more states. For example, a child born in the United States of parents who are Filipino citizens is both a Filipino (since his parents are Filipinos at the time of birth) and an American (since he was born in the United States).
Because Philippine law has no control over citizenship laws of other countries, dual citizenship is unavoidable.
Under Law Instruction No. RBR-99002 issued by the Bureau of Immigration on 15 April 1999, any child born of a Filipino parent may now be recognized as a Filipino citizen after submission of the following requirements:
No. You must file the petition directly with the Bureau of Immigration at Magallanes Drive, Intramuros, Manila.
However, you can have the required documents authenticated with the Philippine Consulate before you submit them to the Bureau.
No. The Certificate of Recognition is not a requirement for a Philippine passport. As long as you are a Filipino citizen, you can get a Philippine passport
The more common ways by which Philippine citizenship may be lost are:
No, you do not have dual citizenship. You lost your Filipino citizenship when you became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Also, because you do not have dual citizenship, you cannot file a Petition for Recognition mentioned in Question 5.
Filipino citizenship may be reacquired through naturalization.
It is a proof of Philippine citizenship issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and duly affirmed by the Department of Justice (DOJ). This is issued to children born abroad to a Filipino parent. To obtain the Identification Certificate, the minor or his parent/guardian must submit the following documents to the Bureau of Immigration:
An Identification Certificate will be issued when the DOJ confirms the Order of Recognition from the BI.
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