Puerto Rican citizenship and nationality
[14] A Royal Charter issued in 1816, invited foreigners to migrate to Puerto Rico to engage in professions and offered them an opportunity to become Spanish citizens, upon request after establishing residency for five years.
[16] Foreigners who established a permanent residence in Puerto Rico were considered subjects, neither Spanish-nationals nor native-born, unless they chose to naturalize.
By royal decree on July 31, the Spanish Civil Code was extended to Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto Rico, coming into effect on January 1, 1890.
[17] At the conclusion of the Spanish–American War, under terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the United States acquired control over Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.
Under the terms of the 1898 Treaty, however, possessions were deemed to be foreign localities and because no collective naturalization was provided, persons living therein were not protected by the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[25] It created a legislature, over which the US Congress retained authority to annul laws[26] and established that while Puerto Ricans were US nationals, they were territorial citizens.
[25] The Puerto Rican Civil Code, as did other laws in force at the time, remained applicable in accordance with terms of the Foraker Act.
[38] In 1942, a proposed amendment of 1940 Act passed the US House to address the provision with regard to Puerto Ricans for loss of nationality of naturalized persons.
[45][46] Specifically, in Downes v. Bidwell (182 U.S. 244, 1901) the Supreme Court found that though Puerto Rico belonged to the United States, it was not part of it constitutionally because it was "inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation and modes of thought and therefore the administration of government and justice, according to Anglo-Saxon principles, may for a time be impossible".
[45] In Gonzales v. Williams (192 U.S. 1, 1904) the Supreme Court affirmed that Puerto Ricans were not aliens, or immigrants, causing Congress to pass in 1906, special provisions for persons born in unincorporated territories to naturalize in the United States.
[45][47] In 1917, the Jones–Shafroth Act established statutory, rather than constitutional, US citizenship, upon US nationals of Puerto Rico and those who might have been absent from the territory at the time of US acquisition, but who had now returned to the island.
[45][48] People who had renounced foreign nationality and were previously Puerto Rican under local law, became stateless under the terms of the Jones Act.
[49] Amendments to the Jones Act in 1927 extended naturalization with statutory citizenship to those who had been absent when it was enacted and those whom it had rendered stateless because of residency under previous Spanish law.
[36] In 1950, the US Congress passed Public Law 600, authorizing Puerto Rico to draft its own constitution to regulate its internal affairs.
These include by birth in one of the fifty states or District of Columbia; becoming naturalized; under the terms of the Jones Act, as it has been amended over time; under provisions of the Nationality Act of 1940 and by having a parent who was Puerto Rican and held federal nationality; or birth in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899 and before January 13, 1941.
[57] Puerto Rico's history as a territory has created both confusion over the status of its nationals and citizenship and controversy because of distinctions between jurisdictions of the United States.
[60] Since 1990, the US State Department presumes no intention to give up nationality, even when a person has performed a potentially expatriating act.
[62] In 1994, Juan Mari Brás flew to Venezuela and renounced his US nationality, in an attempt to rid himself from what he saw as the colonialism inherent in Puerto Ricans being considered U.S.
[67][68] Shortly thereafter, because Mari Brás wished to remain in Puerto Rico, the State Department reversed its decision to accept his renunciation.
[74][75] De Mewton sued the Electoral Board in 1924 for refusing to allow her to register, but the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ruled against her on the grounds that the legislature had the authority to determine who were eligible voters in the island.
[87] The Certificate of Puerto Rican Citizenship can be used to obtain dual nationality in Spain, as it is considered proof of Ibero-American heritage.
[88] Under the Spanish statutes known as Organic Law 4/2000 and Royal Decree 557/2011, persons who have historic ties to Spain and can demonstrate their origin in an Ibero-American country can be naturalized without renouncing their previous nationality.
