Talk:Puerto Rican citizenship and nationality

Inaccurate Statement
The below statement about the normal naturalication process is not accurate as per the Jennifer Efron case, The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the same way in dismissing lawsuits filed by Efron's father, David Efron. the Supreme Court does not agrees to hear Efron's petition.

Jennifer Efron is a U.S. citizen because she was born in Puerto Rico. But her parents say Puerto Ricans' U.S. citizenship is not guaranteed, so they're asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the teen-ager to naturalize. Officials at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service insisted:

The bottom line is that a person born in Puerto Rico is a U.S. citizen and does not need to be naturalized," INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said.

Statement: The belief[by whom?] that Puerto Ricans were unfit for self-government was linked to the debate of their American citizenship.Individually Puerto Rican could go through the normal naturalization process for aliens, but a mass grant of United states citizenship was a different matter.

Reference: |U.S. Supreme Court asked to review Puerto Ricans' U.S. citizenship

--Seablade (talk) 02:55, 7 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I think the statement is lacking historical context so I removed it. I also removed the section about "The flaws of U.S citizenship". The discussion about Political status of Puerto  Rico  belongs in that article. --Jmundo (talk) 03:27, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Juan Mari Brás
Why would the US consulate have allowed him to renounce his US citizenship if he would then become stateless? If he then had to give up his US passport, how would he have traveled back to Puerto Rico? 219.73.48.124 (talk) 07:49, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Because this happened when was possible do international travel from the U.S. to the Dominican Republic with an I.D. and a birth cerificate. --Seablade (talk) 05:57, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

U.S. Federal Cases related to Puerto Rico Citizenship
C. REQUIREMENT - RENOUNCE ALL RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

See also: State citizenship

--Seablade (talk) 05:54, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Colon and Mari Bras attempted (unsuccessfully) to renounce their US citizenship as part of their (thus far rejected) assertion that Puerto Rican citizenship exists (or ought to exist) separately from US citizenship. About the Puerto Rican citizenship, well the Puerto Rico Supreme Court decision is very clear, that is attached to the Puerto Rico Constitution, the case do reference to a lot of U.S Supreme Court decisions about the state citizenship and their rights, that the state citizenship is separate to the U.S. Citizenship, and construed the equivalence of Puerto Rico citizenship and Puerto Rico government autonomy under the federal jurisdiction as equivalent to the State Citizenship of any of the 50 states that is attached to the state respective constitution and to any state government autonomy under the federal jurisdiction. (See also: Citizenship Clause). Specifying that the purpose of Congress in the 1950 and 1952 legislation was to accord to Puerto Rico the degree of autonomy and independence normally associated with a State of the Union. E.g. It also indicate that the U.S. Supreme Court indicate that the right to vote to state positions on the state elections is a state citizenship privilege and no a U.S. Citizenship privileges. The beginning of the Mari Bras Case was the request to have the right to vote on the Puerto Rico elections, without the U.S. Citizenship. --Seablade (talk) 05:40, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Puerto Rican citizenship is a controversial denomination

 * Nationality entry should reflect facts. Puerto Rican Citizenship is a controversial denomination. Certainly there is zero, I mean zero, acceptance to OLR having Puerto Rican citizenship except in his own mind, and that of Mercy11. He was living in United States, as an American Citizen, when he was convicted of the violent crimes including using of force to commit robbery. Clearly it would be a benefit for OLR to claim foreign citizenship, since this might make his conviction questionable, since the embassy of his nationality was not contacted. He would prefer to be known as a prisoner of war, but alas that is not the reality. And you can not use your beliefs and biases to make it so. It is a fanciful whim, with no certain documentation from any government that he has Puerto Rican citizenship. Mercy11, if you alter my editing, this violates Wikipedia guidelines, and I will ask that you be banned from editing this entry. You have not provided a shred of evidence that any government has granted OLR Puerto Rican Citizenship. You state above that Nationality and Citizenship have different meanings, but then enter a form of citizenship in the nationality entry. This is not valid. You can not revert entries without basis. If you have a citation that shows a copy of the original certification of OLR prior to his conviction. He can renounce his US citizenship, but until his incarceration is complete, he is considered a US citizen. Rococo1700 (talk) 19:57, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

Reinstated lead section summary and remaining copy-edit
I copy-edited this entire article per WP:C/E to make it clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, consistent, etc. In particular, the lead section was lacking a clear and complete summary of the article, which I accomplished. But a certain editor Collect reverted my work stating "seek consensus for such a major edit on the article talk page please". Obviously the narrow interpretation of Consensus made is contrary to the good faith of WP:C/E that was guiding me. Specifically, the lead was expanded with info from the article that hadn't been summarized before. Did that editor miss that? The edits have been reinstated and if there is objection, the exact nature of the objection needs to be stated. Mercy11 (talk) 18:13, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
 * There is no need for a consensus. It is a fact that Wikipedia encourages expanded introductions that cover the "what is within" the content of an article. It is very clear that this was accomplished by User:Mercy11's work on this article. Job well done. Tony the Marine (talk) 20:19, 31 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I agree that the expanded introduction is appropriate, informative, and well within established Wikipedia usage. Sarason (talk) 02:32, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

Edit conflict
My apologies for the edit conflict! I should have heeded that article tag! TJMSmith (talk) 20:00, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
 * No worries . I'm walking my way through adding info and revising as I go. Lots of OR in the stuff that was in there. But some of it is good. SusunW (talk) 20:02, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

External links from the article

 * Santos, José. A., Nuevo Certificado de Ciudadanía Puertorriqueña: Artículo que explica como el Certificado de Ciudadanía de Puerto Rico que expide el Departamento de Estado de PR, es un documento imprescindible e insustituible ante el Registro Civil Español para que, un puertorriqueño acredite el concepto de PR como país iberoamericano y adquirir su nacionalidad española .1 de noviembre de 2010. (Spanish)
 * Application for Certificate of Citizenship of Puerto Rico
 * La eficacia y alcance del Certificado de Ciudadanía Puertorriqueña (Spanish)
 * De extranjera ilegal a litigante en el Supremo: El caso de Isabel González influyó en las relaciones entre la Isla y EE.UU. Rut N. Tellado Domenech. El Nuevo Dia. December 29, 2013.(Spanish) Archived at the Wayback Machine on January 1, 2014.
 * 7 FAM 1120 US State Dept Doc -On US Nationality vs. US Citizenship
 * Opinión del Secretario de Justicia de Puerto Rico en la Consulta Núm. 06-56-B hecha por el Secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico el 13 de septiembre de 2006 sobre si el Departamento de Estado en 2006 tenía la facultad para emitir una certificación reconociendo la condición jurídica del Lcdo. Juan Mari Brás como ciudadano de Puerto Rico. Específicamente, le solicitan que evaluaran si dicha acción es viable al amparo del caso Ramírez de Ferrer v. Mari Brás, 144 D.P.R. 141 (1997) ("Ramírez de Ferrer v. Mari Brás II". A esos fines, ellos examinado la jurisprudencia aplicable y las disposiciones de ley pertinentes, concluyen que el Departamento de Estado sí podía emitir la certificación solicitada, es decir el Certificado de Ciudadanía de Puerto Rico) (Spanish)
 * Reglamento del Secretario de Estado 7347 para Regir el Proceso de Evaluación y Otorgamiento de Certificados de Ciudadanía Puertorriqueña (Spanish)
 * LEY NUM. 132 DEL 17 DE NOVIEMBRE DE1997. Intento de Enmienda y deroga del Código Político de Puerto Rico 1902 que fracasa para eliminar el concepto de ciudadanía de Puerto Rico que recoge el Art 10 en su Título II (Spanish)
 * RDGRN 25-06-2007. Resolución de 25 de junio de 2007, de la Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado del Ministerio de Justicia Español, en el recurso interpuesto contra Resolución dictada por Encargado de Registro Civil Consular Español en Puerto Rico, en expediente sobre inscripción de nacimiento y opción a la nacionalidad española por un ciudadano de Puerto Rico de padre español. (Spanish)
 * Tener la doble nacionalidad: ¿Qué implicaciones tiene la doble nacionalidad? Ministerio de Justicia Español. August 18, 2015. (Website of the Ministerio de Justicia Español where it explains how Puerto Ricans can have dual citizenship with their US citizenshipo.] (In Spanish)
 * Acts of the Legislature of Puerto Rico. Acts and Resolutions of the First Session of the Second Legislative Assembly of Porto Rico (including the Organic Act of [US] Congress providing for a civil government). Government of Puerto Rico. (For information on Puerto Rican citizenship, see Section 7, page iv.) 1903. Accessed July 28, 2017.
 *  Extended Statehood in the Caribbean ~ Fifty Years of Commonwealth ~ The Contradictions Of Free Associated Statehood in Puerto Rico. Jorge Duany & Emilio Pantojas-Garcia. Rozenberg Quarterly: The Magazine. Dated c. July 2002.
 * The Constitutionality of Decolonization by Associated Statehood: Puerto Rico's Legal Status Reconsidered. Gary Lawson Robert D. Sloane. Boston University School of Law. Working Paper No. 09-11. Revised August 3, 2009. Archived by the Wayback Machine on October 18, 2019.

Relocating this from the external links section. See that page for attribution. TJMSmith (talk) 23:02, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

Possible template
Should this template be placed on this article: Template:Politics of Puerto Rico? Here is an article with it: Law of Puerto Rico for comparison. I don't think this PR nationality article would be directly linked on the template because it seems to only link to higher level articles (i.e. US/PR constitutions and PR law). TJMSmith (talk) 05:28, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussions at the nomination pages linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 08:26, 28 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Application Form for Certificate of Puerto Rican Citizenship-Front.png (discussion)
 * Application Form for Certificate of Puerto Rican Citizenship-Reverse.png (discussion)
 * Brasciudadano.jpg (discussion)

Puerto Rican citizenship is not dependent on residency
In the article, there is a statement that Puerto Rican citizenship is dependent on residency. This is not true. My mother was born in Puerto Rico and I was born in the mainland U.S. I applied for and received a Puerto Rican citizenship certificate due to being the child of a Puerto Rican-born parent. I have never resided in Puerto Rico, but I am a Puerto Rican citizen. Therefore, citizenship is not dependent on residency. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.82.241.139 (talk • contribs) 16:47, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * this is an encyclopedia. While I appreciate that you were trying to point out a problem, please do not add anecdotal information to articles. All information should be properly cited to curated, reliable sources. Had you continued reading, you would have seen that the article already stated that one can obtain a certificate based on a parent's birth in Puerto Rico, but I think you are correct that it was in the wrong section. I have copyedited the article to make it clearer. SusunW (talk) 22:41, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

I had continued reading the article. Don't make assumptions. It needed to be stated because it's inaccurate. It misleads people into thinking that Puerto Rican citizenship is similar to state citizenship, which is based on residency. However, the fact that it can be derived from a parent (to a child who was not born there) is one example of how it differs from state citizenship, as well as the fact that it permits the person to have priority in acquiring Spanish citizenship. These facts needed to be stated immediately after the sentence on residency in order for people to clearly understand the situation. It was inappropriate to be stated later since it contradicted the earlier information, thereby confusing many readers unfamiliar with the subject.
 * As I said, I appreciate your pointing out the confusion and made corrections based on your observation. Wikipedia is a collaborative effort and is always improved if people work together to improve it. Please sign your posts on Wikipedia using 4 ~, thanks. SusunW (talk) 13:40, 14 April 2021 (UTC)


 * Please do not bite the newbies. While both are making useful comments, it's clear the anonymous user is both collaborating and communicating in good faith. Chastising newbies isn’t what the encyclopedia’s editorial staff at large wants to be remembered by. Thank you. Mercy11 (talk) 02:44, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reasons for deletion at the file description pages linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 14:53, 20 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Application Form for Certificate of Puerto Rican Citizenship-Front.png
 * Application Form for Certificate of Puerto Rican Citizenship-Reverse.png

Federal taxes
The statement that Puerto Ricans pay federal taxes is misleading. The average Puerto Rican does not pay federal income tax, which is the largest chunk of federal taxes paid by most people living in a state. 66.69.210.192 (talk) 23:58, 20 February 2023 (UTC)