PCGNY.net | News Release

Applying for dual citizenship now easy as 1-2-3

PHILIPPINE CONSULATE GENERAL - NEWS RELEASE
21 November 2005

New York, NEW YORK --- With the recent announcement by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration of the revised rules for the implementation of the Dual Citizenship Law, applying for dual citizenship is now easy as 1-2-3. This was announced by New York Consul General Cecilia B. Rebong.

Under the revised rules, applications for dual citizenship can now be given due course even if applicants could not present their authenticated birth certificate from the National Statistics Office (NSO). Before the issuance of the revised rules, many qualified individuals were turned off from applying especially those who were born in the 1940s and early fifties because of the requirement for an NSO birth certificate. Without an NSO birth certificate, there was no way that their application for dual citizenship could be processed. That was then. Today, even without an NSO birth certificate, qualified individuals could apply and expect to be granted dual citizenship just as long as they could present at least one of the following documents: (1) Voter’s ID or voter’s affidavit; (2) marriage contract of the applicant’s parents; (3) birth certificate issued by the Local Civil Registrar; or any other documents showing that the applicant was a former natural-born Filipino citizen.

Consul General Cecilia Rebong said the Bureau of Immigration relaxed the implementing rules in response to numerous concerns and complaints it received from thousands of applicants through the various Foreign Service Posts. Rebong said, “the Bureau finally realized that the old implementing rules were discouraging, rather than encouraging, prospective applicants for dual citizenship.” She added that under the new rules, “all applicants for dual citizenship are presumed to be former natural-born Filipino citizens and the burden of proving otherwise is on the interviewing consular officer.”

Another positive development is the fact that the revised rules have authorized the Philippine Foreign Service Posts to issue Identification Certificates (IC) to successful applicants for dual citizenship. The old rules stipulated that dual citizens would have to get their ICs all the way from the Bureau of Immigration office in Manila. Under the revised rules, however, dual citizens are given the option of either getting an Identification Certificate (which comes with the total processing fee of $50.00) or applying for a Philippine passport (which would entail payment of the passport fee of $50.00 separately.)

To apply for dual citizenship, one needs only to fill out a form, which is available at the Consulate General. Copies of the form may also be downloaded from the Consulate General’s website, http://pcgny.net. Applicants can visit the Consulate General anytime without having to make a prior appointment. The Consulate General is open from 9:00 A.M. to 4 P.M., Monday to Friday, except during officially declared Philippine and U.S. holidays.