Dual Citizenship in the Philippines
August 4, 2008
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Posted by dmihalia
On September 17, 2003 President Arroyo signed Republic Act 9225, Citizenship Retention and Re-acqusition Act of 2003 also known as the Dual Citizenship bill. This act declares that former natural born Filipino citizens who acguired foreign citizenship through naturalization are deemed not to have lost their Philippine citizenship.
The procedure for reacquiring/retaining their Philippine citizenship begins with proving he/she is a natural born Filipino by acquiring an NSO-authenicated copy of his or her birth certificate. The birth certificate is submitted with the Petition of Dual Citizenship and Issuance of Identification Certificate form and (3) 2″X2″ photos. These items are then turned in to a Philippine Consulate/Embassy with a copy of a valid ID. If married and the citizen wants to retain their married name a copy of the marriage certificate must be included. There is also a US $50 processing fee to be paid with submission. After turning in the forms you have to schedule an appointment to take the Philippine Oath of Allegiance by a consular officer. Foreign spouses of Filipino citizens cannot become citizens under this act but unmarried minor children under 18 years old retain the same rights as the dual citizen.
There are a few advantages that my wife and I can see to her obtaining dual citizenship. First, with her being a Filipino citizen/dual citizen I can stay longer without a visa because I will be eligible to enter the country as a Balikbayan. I would be able to stay for one year without a visa vice the 21 days I can now. Secondly she has no limits on the amount of land/real estate she can own.
There is a government website that answers just about every question you would have on this act and it can be accessed at http://www.gov.ph/faqs/dualcitizenship.asp . So what do you think? Are there any disadvantages of getting dual citizenship or do you see other advantages that I missed?
Categories: Philippines General
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Tags: Balikbayan, dual citizenship philippines, philippines travel
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My wife became a dual-citizen via the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles in 2004 or 2005 (sorry, lousy memory). She obtained a Philippines passport through them at the same time.
In 2005, I obtained a one-year visa there after filling out a form and attaching a statement from my wife that she wanted me to live in the Philippines. I had to go through a medical quarantine interview within 7 days of arrival, but that was easy.
Doing it in those steps allowed me to get a permanent resident after a month or two of being here. They issue a card. The first card expires in one year and then you get another one and I think it’s good for 5 years. In 2007, I renewed the card and did my annual registration at the local immigration office. It was less than 1,000 pesos for both.
Thanks for the info. It looks like it would be to my advantage to have her get the dual citizenship.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you Alex
I hope to keep improving my site. I visited your site also.
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I applied in the Philippines for dual citizenship (DC) for I thought this was the most expedient means to do it. And to make the process the speediest, I enlisted the favor of a friend who is a very close ally of the head of the Administration Div Ofc of the Bureau of Immigration and Depostation (BID).
Every single document requirement were
submitted, plus the processing fee of PhP3,000.00. Upon presentation and submission of the same and the oath- taking, I was assured that my DC certificate would be ready in a week’s time instead of the regular 2-week- waiting period.
Thereafter, I was informed very kindly by the Adm Div “envoy” that I should expect a call from the BID to pick up my certificate.
A month has passed and I still did not get my DC certificate. I called and asked about the status of my DC application. I was assured that the following Monday my certificate would be ready. this dialogue went on every single week for the past almost 4 months now….and the certificate is not yet ready. All kinds of excuses were thrown at me like…the signatories are on vacation; some of my documents were missing (only to be told later that all my documents were in and in good standing); the people involved in approving my application are still deliberating on my application, and other ridiculous EXCUSES.
I then asked my friend who assisted me in filing my application to follow up my application that is now way-way long overdue. He called up the head of the office in charge of the issuing DC certificates more than twice on 2 different occasions, but in vain.
The last info about the release of my DC certificate per the same person who initiated the process is, AGAIN, on July 16, 2009, Thursday.
What a harrowing experience this has been for me.
I wonder if anyone else has undergone this similar exacerbating ordeal with applying for a Dual Citizenship.
If you have, please share with me so I can get get some kind of a whatever consolation from this rahter harrowing episode.
Hi Henry Gonzales
Although it took my wife awhile to get her paperwork approved she received the DC certificate the same day she took the oath. I’m sure since you are in the Philippines you know how it works most of the time and you probably haven’t talked to the right person yet.
I am thinking of applying for a dual citizenship. i am an American citizenship and residing here in the phillipines for a while do you mind giving me some insights on that? and i have a very important event to attend to in Cali next year feb. just wondering if the process would be done by this year. please help me i dont know where to go.
Hi Candy Q
According to everything I’ve read and experienced it should not take you long to get dual citizenship but I would start as soon as possible to make sure the paperwork is done. If you wait it will only take longer. You shouldn’t have problem anyway since you have U.S. citizenship to fall back on.
i know this article has been a few years already…but im confused. i was looking into getting the dual citizenship but when i took my oath for my US citizenship…i know i read somewhere, that although the US allows dual citizenship, an individual can be stripped of their US citizenship after naturalizing. and one of those ways was if the individual swore an oath to another country. from what i’ve read on the requirements for the DC, a naturalized US citizen is in danger of getting their citizenship revoked because of having to take another oath to the Philippines. im just wondering why it’s not like other countries that even though you get your US citizenship, you automatically retain your citizenship from where you were born. no submitting forms or re-taking an oath of allegiance.
also…as far as i know, as long as you were born in the Philippines, even if you naturalized as a US citizen, you will be able to buy as much land as you can. i know so because my mom was a naturalized citizen born in the Philippines. but throughout all these years, she’s bought numerous parcels of land without any problems.
Hi TravellingNomad
If you do a little Googling you will see that there are court cases and legal summations on this subject. The rulings have always determined that for anyone to lose their U.S. citizenship they must appear before an official and VOLUNTARILY give it up. Here’s more info: Advice about Possible Loss of US Citizenship and Dual Nationality