Filipino-Americans Advised Not To Take Legal Action On Dual Citizenship

WASHINGTON DC, USA—Filipino-Americans are being urged to remain vigilant on issues regarding dual citizenship, such as renouncing another nationality.

In a recently released advisory, the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC said that though it recognized the existence of the proposed legislation that might put an end to dual citizenship privileges of Filipino-Americans, it noted that this bill is still in its introductory stage.

“The bill is currently a legislative proposal and has not yet been enacted into law,” the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC said.

US Senator for Ohio Bernie Moreno has recently filed a bill which introduced the “Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025 to establish that citizens of the US must have sole and exclusive allegiance to the United States.

At present, there are approximately 4.6 million Filipinos living in the US, making them the third largest Asian American group, with large population in California, Hawaii, Texas, Florida and Nevada.

The Philippine Embassy also noted that most of these types of bills normally go through rigid, thorough and long process. And some even do not pass at all.

“It will go through several stages of lengthy deliberation and may or may not proceed depending on the decisions of the U.S. Congress,” it said. “U.S. lawmakers will have to carefully consider the provisions of the bill, given its possible significant impact on major immigrant groups in the country,” it added.

The Embassy further noted that previous challenges to dual and multiple citizenship had not materialized.

“As early as 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that dual citizenship is a “status long recognized by law” and that “a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both. The mere fact he asserts the rights of one citizenship does not mean that he renounces the other” (Kawakita v. US, 343 US 717),” it noted.

The embassy officials have assured Filipinos living in America that they would be updating them regularly of the progress of such proposed bill.

“Our Philippine Foreign Service Posts in the United States are closely monitoring the bill and advise the Filipino-American community to do the same and exercise caution in renouncing their citizenship,” they said.

Earlier reports from Philippine Star newspaper, it showed that since 2019, there have been a rising number of Filipinos applying for dual citizenship. From 2016’s figure of 1,009, it rose to 1,536 in 2019. In 2021, after the Covid pandemic, the number increased to 2,653. In 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic, it dropped significantly to 653.

Under Republic Act 9225, otherwise known as the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003 ( more popularly known as Dual Citizenship Law) enables former natural-born Filipinos who have become naturalized citizens of another country to retain/reacquire their Philippine citizenship by taking an oath of allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines before a Philippine Consular officer. Upon retaining or reacquiring their Philippine citizenship, they shall enjoy full civil economic and political rights as Philippine citizens.

Filipinos in the U.S. normally seek dual citizenship for benefits like unrestricted land/business ownership, easier travel/residency in the Philippines, ability to vote/hold office, regaining professional licenses, and securing family immigration, effectively bridging their lives in both nations, especially for those who lost Filipino citizenship upon naturalizing as U.S. citizens under Philippine Law (RA 9225).

In the middle of this year, the Philippine Embassy in Washington also issued a public warning against false information spreading in social media on dual citizenship and US permanent resident or Green Card holders.

“Please do not make any legal actions or decisions such as renouncing your citizenship based on social media content,” it said.

They also warned Filipino-Americans not to make any drastic moves regarding this issue. “Renunciation of Philippine citizenship is an irreversible legal action,” they said.