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The Philippine islands were incorporated into the Spanish Empire during the mid-16th century. [7] Accordingly, Spanish nationality law applied to the colony. [8] No definitive nationality legislation for Philippine residents existed for almost the entire period of Spanish rule until the Civil Code of Spain became applicable in the Philippines on December 8, 1889.
[4] [5] In the late 19th century, the author Ramon Reyes Lala became the first Filipino to naturalize and become an American citizen, settling in La Jolla [6] The 1910 United States census recorded only 406 people of Filipino descent in the mainland U.S., including 109 in Louisiana and 17 in Washington state. [7]
1946 Filipino Naturalization Act allows naturalization of Filipino Americans, [53] and grants citizenship to those who arrived prior to March 1943. [54] 1952 Walter–McCarran Act nullifies all federal anti-Asian exclusion laws; [55] allowed for naturalization of all Asians. [56] Immigration quotas still remain in place.
Roughly 30 years later, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration granted dual citizenship to Filipino Americans born in the U.S. after 1973 to a Philippine national.
In general, immigrants become eligible for citizenship after five years of residence. Many do not immediately apply, or do not pass the test on the first attempt. This means that the counts for visas and the counts for naturalization will always remain out of step, though in the long run the naturalizations add up to somewhat less than the visas.
The Citizenship Retention and Re-Acquisition Act of 2003 (Republic Act No. 9225) made Filipino Americans eligible for dual citizenship in the United States and the Philippines. [218] Overseas suffrage was first employed in the May 2004 elections in which Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was reelected to a second term.
California could become its own country if a ballot proposal gathers enough steam from registered voters to qualify for the November 2028 ballot.
The Nationality Act of 1940 (H.R. 9980; Pub.L. 76-853; 54 Stat. 1137) revised numerous provisions of law relating to American citizenship and naturalization.It was enacted by the 76th Congress of the United States and signed into law on October 14, 1940, a year after World War II had begun in Europe, but before the U.S. entered the war.