(Was formerly Philippines Questions — Round 11)

This is an update or amplification of a post first made back in 2008.  I’m going through the blog and updating, correcting, and amplifying some of the posts to make them more useful to my readers.  I’m also redoing some non-descriptive titles so that Google Search will find you the information you need, faster and more accurately, so you can better make the decisions you need to about Moving to the Philippines.

Today’s question involves a basic one and I’ll add a few amplifying comments

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Should I Reacquire Philippine Citizenship before leaving the US or After I Return to the Philippines?

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The simplest answer is, either way will work fine.  It’s a matter of dollars and cents and time factors.  Pros and cons sort of shake out like this:

If you reacquire while still living in the US the costs and the process at the Philippine Embassy in DC or at the Consulate office which serves your state

(you can’t pick and chose, here’s where you find out which Philippine Consulate office serves you)

may well be cheaper than after you move to the Philippines.  You have to consider that If you reacquire in
photo credit: markhillary

the Philippines you will have to travel to the Bureau of Immigration in Intramuros, Manila at least once, according to my most recent information.  Thus the cost difference between the two will vary, depending on where you live now and where you will live in the Philippines.

You can save a little, on either side of the pond if you get your 13 series visa … Philippine Permanent Resident visa … at the same time the spouse reacquires.   Items such as passport renewal, registration of foreign marriage, registration of children and such can be accomplished at the same time as well.  A couple ‘think it through carefully’ thoughts:

• Registration of your marriage: If you married in the US, sooner or later you are going to be asked for your marriage contract when you live in the Philippines.  Trust me, you will.  You can not use a US marriage certificate for many Philippine government requirements unless it is certified by the Philippine department of Foreign Affairs in the US.  This can not be done later in the Philippines, so get it done before you leave.

Re-reading this it occurs to me that even though I have made this number one on my list and even bolded a few things to set them off, I still wish there was a way to highlight it more brightly.  You made need your marriage certificate (or more often here called marriage contract) for many things you may not be thinking of now, as well as the common reason for acquiring a spousal permanent residency visa, traveling and availing of the Balikbayan Privilege program, etc.   Get it done before you leave your home country!!

• Registration of Children:  Even if your children were born in the US, as long as one of their parents was a Philippine citizen at the time of their birth, they are natural born Filipinos under Philippine law.  You may think holding Philippine citizenship could never be an advantage to them, but unless you can predict the future better than I can, you may want to make sure they are registered now so that they can avail of things restricted to Filipino citizens in the future … voting, land ownership, etc.  (they can’t vote or own land until they reach maturity under Philippine law).

By the way, these children do not need to reacquire Philippine citizenship, since they ‘performed no act’ to lose their citizenship, as their parent did, they are still 100% Philippine citizens whether the parents think of then as Filipinos or not.  Only the person who ‘performs and act’ such as as swearing allegiance to the US loses their citizenship.  Children, under Philippine law can not legally perform such an act, so they are what they were legally at birth.

• Philippine Passports:  Depending upon your decision on the children’s citizenship, you may wish to get them Philippine passports.  If you intend for them to travel with their US passports, they will have to either travel with the Filipino/former Filipino parent and enter as Balikbayan or they will have to have a permanent residency visa, so Philippine passports may be a useful thing to have.   Just the money and time you’d save in visas and processing alone makes this seem a useful choice.

• Are You Sure Reacquiring is the Right Thing?: My wife, who lost her Philippine citizenship by becoming a US citizen was sure she wanted her Philippine citizenship back.  So she now has it and is a full-fledged dual citizen.  When I get around to applying for my permanent residency visa I will be able to do so based on her Filipino citizenship.  But suppose, for whatever reason, she had chosen not to reacquire Philippines citizenship?  I could also be living here based on her former Filipino status just as easily.
  • Both a Filipino spouse or a spouse with former Filipino status can acquire a permanent residency visa in his or her own right as well as sponsor a spouse and all minor children of their marriage.
  • There is no compelling need to reacquire just so the family can live in the Philippines.
  • Another alternative open to former Filipinos is the SRRV program.  I have several foreign former Filipino friends who did not wish to reacquire, one is a US citizen and one is a Turkish citizen.  They chose to avail of the SRRV (Special Resident’s Retirement Visa) program instead.  A former Filipino can invest as little as $1500 USD (which can be part of the payment for a residence (former Filipinos can still own land, unlike non-Filipinos)) and bring his or her spouse and minor children along under the program.

So in summary, decide first if you are positive you want to reacquire Philippine citizenship and then decide if you wish to spend the money and time before you travel here or after you make the move to the Philippines. Many seem to be ‘stuck’ on this issue and in truth, it is just not that big a deal.  You can succeed in your move using either method.

A good decision aid in this somewhat complex area of planning your Philippine move is Bob’s excellent  Philippine Immigration Guide

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