Now, dear readers, if you’ve been following this blog you know that some months back Janet was able to become an American Citizen! That process is expensive, complex and time consuming, but we considered it to be worth it, particularly because of the value of the blue passport we Americans take for granted.
However, one of the stipulations of becoming a US citizen is that you must give up all other citizenships. Therefore Janet was now an American citizen with all the rights and privileges that I have, but she was no longer a Philippines citizen.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Unlike the US, the Philippines does not require you to give up other citizenships. Therefore you can re-acquire your Philippines citizenship, without giving up your US citizenship, thus becoming a dual-citizen. And that was our plan.
Unlike in the US, the Philippines laws, regulations and bureaucracy are a bit less transparent, so it took Janet a while to try to determine what she had to do in order to re-acquire her citizenship. We stopped in the Immigration Office here in Dumaguete, and as expected were told that they could not handle such a request; it had to be done at the main office in Manila.
Calls to the main office in Manila went unanswered but finally Janet did get a response to her emails. So the following is what we learned.
The paperwork is fairly easy and you can download it here: http://www.immigration.gov.ph
What we were interested in was the Petition for Reacquisition of Philippines Citizenship Under R.A. 9225. The form itself is fairly short and simple. However, you cannot just fill it out and send it in. You must go to the main office in Manila.
So, after Janet had put her documentation together; standard stuff including marriage license, US passport and proof of citizenship, birth certificate, etc. we booked a flight and hotel and we were on our way. The Immigration office opens at 8:00 AM and we decided to arrive around 6:00. There were only a couple of people ahead of us but by 8:00 the line was at least 100 people. I’d therefore recommend arriving early. You cannot get an appointment no matter how rich or white you are. It is strictly first come, first serve.
The two couples ahead of us were both foreigners with Filipina wives. One guy, an American and nice enough, had lived in the Philippines many years and therefore thought he ought to impart his wisdom to me, the newbie. I smiled and nodded my head a lot, though as I say, he was certainly nice enough. The 1st guy in line was German and right out of central casting; think Sergeant Schultz, only a lot less funny.
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Once the doors opened (and they actually opened a few minutes early) we were hustled to a line that was essentially a triage area. Some people were there to get or renew visas and there were people there looking to do what Janet was doing. A lady, definitely the bureaucratic type (again think Sergeant Schultz, only less funny) checked Janet’s documentation, gave her a couple forms to fill out, told her to put it all in a folder and come back when she was ready.
Five minutes later we came back and waited, and waited and waited. Finally we were hustled into an office with an Immigration Officer, whose specialty was the re-acquisition of citizenship. She more thoroughly scrutinized Janet’s documents. Of particular interest is a document that Janet and I typed up. Essentially they require an affidavit stating that you have nothing bad hanging over your head under any of your past or current names. The document must be notarized, so Janet and I found a notary the day before, a couple hours after we arrived in Manila. The notary literally had a desk situated in a restaurant and a couple hundred pesos later we were set. The Immigration Officer looked at our letter closely; later I understood why. Most applicants don’t have the letter and are sent around the corner from Immigration where a large area processes writing and notarizing documents. So, don’t worry; if you don’t have the letter, somebody will write it for you and have it notarized. We still had to go around the corner since they required the form itself to be notarized, for 100 pesos.
BTW, speaking of money, online we read that the fee for the re-acqusition was about 3100 pesos. When we arrived at Immigration it turned out that the fee was closer to 2500; I have no idea what the discrepancy was, maybe the notarization fees.
We returned back to the room to show the finalized documents to the officer. Sitting there was an elderly woman and her daughter and in typical Philippines fashion not only did Janet and the older women strike up a conversation but the Immigration Officer joined in. We found out that the lady’s husband had died, she had become an American citizen through marriage, all the husband’s money was being grabbed by his children from a previous marriage, that the woman was now broke and re-acquiring her Philippines citizenship to avail of some benefits she can get, if she’s a Philippines citizen. The woman’s daughter was stunned that Janet would re-acquire her Philippines citizenship, thus giving up the golden goose (aka the American passport). They all explained to her that Janet did not have to give up her American citizenship; that she would be a dual citizen. They all laughed and had a great time. Try doing that with an Immigration Officer in the US.
There were of course more lines, more approvals and finally Janet was in the payment line. After that she was directed to an office where another 5 women where waiting for exactly what Janet was awaiting; their dual citizenship. All were women and all much older.
Finally all 6 together were in front of an Immigration Officer (a 30ish man). I was looking on – the only husband – I suspect the only husband still alive. It’s not the 1st world so the officer one by one confirmed each person’s name and age. A couple were in their 80s (including the woman whose story we heard). One woman said she was 62. “You look at lot younger,” the Officer said. Janet confirmed her name and age of 29; she was half the age or less of any other woman there. It was obvious that the other women had deceased husbands and were looking to re-acquire their citizenship for whatever benefits Philippines citizenship gives.
They all raised their right hands and took an oath and were told that in 2-3 months (it is the Philippines, after all) they would receive confirmation that their petition was approved and we’d have to come back to Manila to get it.
But for all intents and purposes, our plan, which started five years ago with a K-1 Visa, went through two separate green card applications, an application to become an American citizen and now the application to re-acquire Philippines citizenship, was done. Don’t ask me what the total expense was, since I don’t want to think about it, but really in the end it’s all been worth it. Janet is a citizen of the world and has all the options possible. I’m very proud of her!
This seems insane to me as I was under the understanding that the US did allow dual-citizenship. Apparently not the case as you now know Dave. The US chooses to ignore any other citizenship acquired after gain US citizenship. I guess they believe that the cost of re-acquiring a previous citizenship will will discourage people. Apparently not 🙂
Hi Brett – I can only speculate on what the thinking behind it is. Obviously they want someone serious about becoming a US citizen and thus requiring you to disavow other citizenships. Now whether they choose to only allow reaqusition of original citizenship or whether there are other scenarios where they allow dual – that I am not sure. But obviously this scenario is common in the Philippines.
They do not. That’s why Re-Acquisition is required.
Does anyone know if this can be accomplished stateside through the embassy?
Yes it can.
I had it done at the San Francisco Philippine Consulate took all of one day. Went in in the morning and by 3pm had both Naturalization papers finished and in hand. I paid for my ex-wife and my American born daughter to get their Philippine citizenship. The reason for the discrepancy on the peso cost is the cost is set at $50 USD so fluctuates with the peso, and my daughters cost $25 USD. The reason I did it? So my daughter could own the retirement property I bought and she will have it to sell or live in after I die.
i was wondering if during the renunciation of filipino citizenship janet was made to surrender her filipino passport.
one of BOI’s requirements is the cancelled filipino passport but what is there to show if it had been surrendered to DFA.
Neither the US nor The Philippines forced Janet to give up her Philippines passport. In fact once we moved to the Philippines she used it a few times for ID purposes. But my understanding is that had she tried to use it as an actually passport, it would have come up as invalid.
BTW, Janet recently completed this journey by obtaining her Philippines passport again.
That is wrong. The US forces her to.
Forces her to what? Give up her passport? As I said Janet did not give up the physical Philippines passport, although as I also said the document was not usable for the purposes one would normally associate with a passport.
Hi Marie:
A little more clarification details that Janet reminded me. First in the US while Janet did not give up her passport they did mark it as “invalid or void.” When she went to Manila to reacquire her citizenship she was required to show her Philippines passport and when she applied for a new Philippines passport she also was required to show her old Philippines passport. At that point they punched the passport so it can never be used but she still does have it.
thanks for replying dave!
m having difficulties because the philippine embassy in taiwan asked us to surrender the philippine passport. they said it was DFA’s directive. i wonder why taiwan and US had different directives.
so i don’t have the passport in my possession anymore.
i wrote to the BI and they said i can have the copy authenticated by the embassy here in taiwan. but when i called the embassy they said they do not authenticate, and only do seen/verified.
Hi Marie:
I can only guess but every country has different rules and I assume Taiwan requires confiscation of the passport, whereas the US does not.
my emails from more than two weeks ago were left unanswered.
i called long distance and nobody were answering their trunk lines as well. i browsed through their list of contacts on the website and spoke to a nice lady called sioni. she told me just the PSA birth certificate is fine. did janet need to authenticate her birth certificate?
am i right in understanding is that what needs ti be notarized are:
(1) “Of particular interest is a document that Janet and I typed up. Essentially they require an affidavit stating that you have nothing bad hanging over your head under any of your past or current names.“ – DO YOU STILL HAVE A COPY?
(2) “We still had to go around the corner since they required the form itself to be notarized, for 100 pesos.” – BY FORM DID YOU MEAN THE APPLICATION FORM?
and is the notary line inside the BOI long? i was thinking if i should do notarization before going there.
where is the notary in a restaurant?
TYPOS:
nobody *was
what needs *to
Marie – Regarding #1 the document we typed up. What I meant was that in the end, they made us redo it and that’s when we went around the corner to the Notary who had the required document. So I would recommend not bothering to write your own, since in our experience they will make you write it again.
You should point out that the Reacquisition Law ONLY applies those who renounced their citizenship BEFORE 2003 and had children born before 2003. After that no one can claim Philippine citizenship, once lost.
Sorry but not sure what you mean. Untrue.
Of course it is true. We are stuck in the Philippines, forever foreigners. I thought we could reacquire, but we cannot. Since we became American after 2003, us and our kids will never be Filipino again. And I frankly do not know where we can go. We do not want to go back to the USA. Maybe we can claim asylum or something?
Were you both citizens of the Philippines previously? Maybe the law applies only when a Philippine citizen marries a foreigner and tries to re-acquire citizenship. Might be different when both the husband and wife were formerly Philippine citizens.
If you cannot reacquire your citizenship – well I am sorry for that and don’t know why that is. I assume you have consulted with an attorney. But going back to your original comment you stated categorically that citizenship after 2003 could not be reacquired and that is categorically not true. Not only did Janet do it but I know many others who did it. There’s some piece of missing information about your story.
That IS true. Reacquisition is not allowed after 2003. There are no free lawyers here.
You know anything about Filipinos claiming asylum in the Philippines?
i finally got to apply.
i was told to call two to three weeks to check if i needed to submit additional requirements.
my calls didn’t get through and another department had to go to their department to ask. apparently they’re understaffed that there is no one to answer the phone. and they’re still processing 2018 applications.
how long did your wife get hers? i come from a country that needs visa to stay in the philippines and this is proving to be a problem.
Requirements and time are not an issue for us. It’s that we have kids. A lot of kids. And kids cannot do reacquisition. So we need to pay about 5 year’s income to allow them to live here. Right now, we are all facing deportation. Well not me. I am a permanent resident. But my Filipino wife and kids will be arrested and deported, unless we come up with a LOT of money from somewhere. I don’t know where!
Hi Marie – My recollection is that it was 2-3 months before Janet got the word that all was ready and we returned to Manila for her re-acquired citizenship. Again no idea what the time table is from where you are. You are correct that getting someone to answer the phone was frustrating.
m entering my fifth month of waiting going to sixth.
i called them and they called again a few days after to ask for additional requirement.
fyi for people looking into your blog as a resource.
Hopefully soon, Marie. Fingers crossed.
Are you doing it in Manila or abroad?
manila
i got it on the first week of november. a little over six months after my application.
You can’t do it in Manila. Must be done abroad. BOI is DOJ not DFA!
And you thought the USA was the pinnacle of bureaucratic nincompoopery.
Plenty of bureaucracy to go around all over the world