foreign ownership of land, dual citizenship & foreigners becoming Filipino citizens

[Andy]

There have been a few posts about foreign ownership of land and dual citizenship, so I’ve searched the Internet and found this mentioned on a few sites (e.g. Filipino consulates in America). I think this info refers to Republic Act No. 9225 "Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act" 2003, which gives Filipino born citizens with a foreign citizenship a way to get back their Filipino citizenship. Without reacquiring their Filipino citizenship, as former Filipino citizens they are limited to owning a max of 1,000 sq metres of land.

The only way a foreigner can get Filipino citizenship is under Commonwealth Act 473 "Revised Naturalization Law" 1939. Among other things there are residency (5 years if married to a Filipino) and language (must be able to speak & write English or Spanish and a principal Filipino language) requirements. You must also renounce all other citizenships.

This counts me out, as I don't speak/write any Filipino language & will not renounce my British citizenship.


Andy
Surrey, UK

[David House]

In a recent thread on this subject the following was posted:-

New Dual Citizenship Laws Affecting Property Ownership

Dual citizenship means having two citizenships and passports from two different countries. Dual citizenship is now available for the following:

* Former Filipino citizens born in the Philippines, but have immigrated to another country and obtained citizenship of that country.

* A foreign spouse married to a Filipino citizen.

Dual citizenship allows the citizenship holder full rights of possession of Philippine real property. This is a new law and it is still unclear as to the procedures involved to implement it

This information can be found on several Philippine based property websites and if it was correct would, through the ability of a spouse dual citizenship, solve many problems.

Sadly it is NOT correct. I wrote to various people asking for confirmation and today received a reply from the Bureau of immigration in Manila which states that only former Filipino citizens can apply for dual citizenship, along the lines which are well understood.

So there has been no changes, nor are there any imminent. As a foreign citizen we cannot directly own land so continue to have all the attendant risks involved. This means I will have to continue to persue my plan of establishing a Philippine company under my control, which will be established solely as a vehicle to own my property. This will work, but it is a process which involves attorneys, initial cash deposits with Government and some expense. I think it is worth it though to protect myself from grasping hands should disaster strike.

[Union Jack]

Hi David House, just a word of warning.....it seems that this kind of arrangement was previously adopted in Thailand, then the Thai Government changed the rules and demanded receipts to prove that the businness was actually up and running and not just on paper.....needless to add that a lot of people had their fingers burnt.