Puerto Rican Citizenship Explained (Secret Benefits) 🇵🇷

Puerto Ricans hold U.S. citizenship, but they also have something called "Puerto Rican citizenship." You might be wondering, is Puerto Rican citizenship the same as U.S. citizenship? How does it work, and what does it mean for someone living on the island? Let’s break it all down and clear up any confusion surrounding Puerto Rico’s status and citizenship.

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[vivianrodriguez]

THANK YOU for making this video clarifying the rampant ignorant misconceptions about Puerto Rico.❤

[Siddhia]

Fabulous article/YouTube I live in Puerto Rico, but was born and grew up in Boston . My husband and I moved to Puerto Rico 30 years ago and have earned a living here. Most of the year the weather is great and the mountain of Puerto Rico are 🎉spectacular a great place to live. There is no perfection wherever you are but between the weather, friendly people and proximity to the USA it works for us

[trigongroupintl]

THIS IS NOT THE 1ST TIME I'VE COME ACROSS THIS INFORMATION SOO...ON THAT POINT GREAT JOB "MY LATIN LIFE" !!!!

[robertofont]

I was born In the US. My mother was born In Puerto Rico. Two weeks ago I went to Puerto Rico and applied for Puerto Rican citizenship at the Departamento de Estado. (State Department in Old San Juan) with the proper documentation including my mother's birth certificate and mine. Last week I received my Puerto Rican citizenship . It does exist.

[N.Alicea]

🇵🇷 Greetings from PR. Very interesting video. I learned some new information today and I am doing more research on the topic. We, the people of Puerto Rico, cherish our American US citizenship (1917), however, our ethnicity and culture precedes it by 425 years.
We are also proud of our centuries long, unique, rich, strong and beautiful culture. We may have accomodated to
126 years of US influence but our identity and contributions as a world nation are undeniable. Thank you 🇵🇷🇺🇲

[VIRGI]

I am a puertorican living on the island an have never heard of puertorican citizenship.

[kalitheamare]

I learned a lot from your video. I had no idea !

[shadburns]

I afree totally with the previous comment! My husband was born in Puerto Rico. A year and a half ago we moved to Maunabo from the states to be closer to his family. The lighthouse in this video that has a large rectangular base is in Maunabo. The black sand beach is to the right (lower part of this video) of the lighthouse and the beautiful nature preserve beach is to the left. (upper part of the video) It is obvious that ALL the other images in this video do not come from Puerto Rico simply because Puerto Rico doesn't have any area that has a desert climate.. Yes, the southwest area of the island, the Cabo Rojo area, is considered a tropical desert but it is VERY easy to see that the images in the video do not depict such a biosphere!
Ugh, Puerto Rico, with its people and culture, is an amazing place to live! I was born in the States but, as a liberal person, I much prefer Puerto Rico. The culture iin Puerto Rico is much more similar to Europe than the US. It is really only in San Juan where you would get a feeling of U.S. influence on society. That is simply because it is the biggest city on the island. The society in San Juan is HEAVILY influenced by NYC and New England simply because of people from the island moving to that area in big numbers when U.S. policy made life miserable on the island. There are more Puerto Ricans living in the States than on the island!
Unfortunately, it is a simple lack of understanding PR's history that allowed the creator of this video to overlook the obvious mistakes in imagery. It's kind of offensive in the same way that doing a video on Los Angeles and showing images of New York would be. Honestly, Puerto Rico is one of a few places on the planet that exists under colonial rule. When you think about it, EVERYONE in the U.S. should be upset on how U.S. citizens here are, by definition, second class. The only real reason that is is because of racist ideas from the Insular Cases decided by the Supreme Court that were decided over 100 years ago that are still enforced today. That is a part of the reason Puerto Rico offers citizenship that allows for sped up citizenship in Spain. Ultimately, the U.S. Government has little desire to make Puerto Ricans on the island equal.
Honestly, how messed up is it that it is ONLY when Puerto Ricans move to the U.S. that they are treated equally!?! The racism is obvious since I am a white guy born in Nebraska, yet, it is ONLY because I chose to I live in PR that I no longer am considered a first class citizen. Sad to say but the U.S. government is basically saying that since I decided to marry out of my race and embrace their culture, I deserve losing my rights. Where else does that happen?
You can say I'm wrong but just look at the real history of the territories the U.S. gained control over after the Spanish-American war. The islands in the Pacific and PR were all treated differently because of racism and how easily the U.S. could exploit a lesser class of people and their land. How else can you explain why the Philippines was allowed independence from the U.S.? The U.S. didn't grant Filipinos U.S. citizenship unless they could prove that their mother was knocked up by a U.S. servicemember or U.S. citizen. Even to this day there are Filipinos still trying to prove their father was in the U.S. military so that they can legally claim U.S. citizenship! Also, people from Samoa are not born U.S. citizens even though were born in a U.S. territory just like Puerto Rico. They have to apply for citizenship even though the U.S. has complete control over their lives!!! In that sense, I guess us Puerto Rican residents are lucky that the U.S. was only a LITTLE BIT racist when granting citizenship. It's all a bunch of insanity!!!

[pedrojcolonallende]

Great explanation at the as far the start of the explanation. Some little messed up the following parts but correct almost all the dialog. 😊

[BrendaMass-cj]

Good to explain all these facts. WE have rights & RESPONSIBILITIES.

[Lance-bl]

I’ll save you folks 14 minutes and 21 seconds Puerto Ricans are US citizen. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, Back in the mid.70’s on the mainland when I I was joining the US Army the recruiter didn’t know that folks from Puerto Rico are US citizens.

[mannolatin]

As of 2017 there are 6.8 million US adults with dual citizenship; actually, US have no restrictions on obtaining multiple citizenships. US doesn't recognize the Puerto Rican citizenship certificate, but Spain does. The certificate is for people born in the island and their descendants in the states. However, to enter or leave the US all nationals with dual citizenship most do it with the American passport but once outside the US boundaries other countries laws apply, that's why you could apply for the Spanish citizenship since the Spanish government recognizes the certificate and the US has no saying in Spain.

[algheroman]

A few of the videos in this video are actually from the Canary Islands (off the coast of Africa) in an area called "Puerto Rico", and not on the actual island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean.

[audacesfortunaiuvat-mq]

One benefit for being a Spanish citizen is the Passport that lets you travel throughout the EU.

[ConociendoPuertoRico]

Greetings! US citizenship for Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico is not the same for a Unitedstatesian born in New York or California. The 14th amendment of the US constitution indicates that US citizenship is obtained only by being born in any of the states of such a country or by being naturalized. Hence, Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico don't meet none of the constitutional requirements as declared on the 14th amendment and cannot get a full constitutional US citizenship with all its rights and responsibilities. Consequently, such citizenship is recognized as a second class or colonial US citizenship.

Unlike the constitutional US citizenship that is permanent and irrevocable, the US citizenship imposed to Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico is revocable and can be annulled anytime by the US government since it was enacted by a congressional law. It is important to know that a law enacted by a previous congress can be cancelled by a posterior congress.

Colonialism is defined as the possession, control and domain that one country has over another to exploit according to its military and economic interests, and it is denounced and condemned as a crime against humanity, its dignity and liberty. Based on such definition, Puerto Rico is a colony of US since 1898.

History states that US imposed its colonial citizenship by congressional law to Puerto Rican citizens on March 2, 1917, to recruit them for the World War 1 which the colonizer joined on April 6, of such year. It is important to be aware that the US cannot recruit non-US citizens for its Army. On July 1917 the US Army drafted 236, 000 Puerto Ricans and many more in subsequent months. Being a colony, Puerto Rico has served well the military interests of US.


Hence, all Puerto Ricans that value liberty, peace, their dignity and national identity are challenged to recognize that Puerto Rico is a colony of US imperialism and are summoned to fight for its decolonization. Also, historical and political reality call to redo your video to provide the correct information to your followers. Have a good day!

[lucasbridges]

Hi, thank you for another informative video. I live in Spain and work with immigration, so I can say that whether or not Puerto Rican citizenship can qualify for the 2 year path to Citizenship here is very much dependent on the Judge which will rule on your case. In general, one must be born in Latin America (including Puerto Rico), Philippines, Andorra, Portugal in order to qualify for the expedited route to citizenship in Spain. While I am aware numerous instances of citizens of Latin America by naturalisation being granted citizenship after 2 years, I have yet to encounter, or hear of anyone, who has obtained Puerto Rican citizenship by naturalisation (therefore outside of jus soli) and qualified for the 2 year route here.

[jesusrnieves]

Puerto Rico does vote for primary presidential elections, it wasn't pointed out in this video, and the rest is very accurate to my knowledge

[judneg]

I just got my citizenship certificate from Puerto Rico. I also paid for the apostille.

[mayramercado]

Puerto Ricans do pay some federal income taxes in addition to the local income tax they pay in Puerto Rico. They pay the federal tax that funds Social Security and Medicare (the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax). There are also exceptions to the general rule. Employees of the U.S. government must file a federal income tax return; their income is understood to come from the States, so they may owe federal income taxes. And any resident of Puerto Rico who earns money from outside of the territory must file a tax return.

Also, the average income in Puerto Rico in 2018 was roughly $20, 078, which means that most Puerto Ricans would not have had to pay federal income taxes even if the federal law applied to the territory. Then according to USA poverty guidelines, a $20, 000 salary is above the poverty line for an individual, but if you are a couple or a family of three or more people living on a $20, 000 salary, the government considers you to be below the poverty line. Considering also that they pay high local taxes in products and those products are priced sames as USA.

[angell.cruzechevarria]

If your Parents born in PR or you born in PR so you need to go with those Birth Certifacates to PR State Department in Old San Juan and Apply for that Certificate, so you can use it if you live in Mexico or Spain to get in 2 years for the Mexican or Spain Citizen.( That Certificate show you, you are Latino doesn't mattter if you are USA Citizen as Constitucional Level. The Certificate as PR Latino grant for PR State Department accelarate the Application Citizen for some Latin Countries. Easy to Understand. Born in PR is a little better than Born in USA States for us. .