Philippine Citizenship Through the Legislative Process

If you are in the Philippines as a foreigner and you have some contribution to the country, or done something that has brought honour or other good things for the Philippines, it is possible that the Legislature of the Philippines may honour you by bestowing upon you Philippine Citizenship.

The good news too is that if you were to gain your Philippine Citizenship through the legislative process, renunciation of your previous citizenship is not necessary.

However, only few people are able to be recognized as a citizen through legislation.  

Citizen of the Philippines

Being married to a Philippine Citizen does not entitle anyone to be a Citizen of the Philippines. 

Normally, if somebody wants to apply for Naturalization in the Philippines, they must live in the Philippines for 10 years before applying.  However, if you to apply for citizenship here, the wait is only five years.

Under Philippine law, if you want to become naturalized in the Philippines, and be a citizen of the country, you may have to renounce your own citizenship. This is the situation for the Americans.    The good thing for a wife is that under the Philippine Dual Citizenship law, she can re-acquire her Philippine Citizen and be a citizen of both countries.  The US does not offer such a procedure.