LIKELY
Can you claim Filipino citizenship through a parent?
Citizen by birth
A child of a Filipino citizen is a Filipino citizen by birth; report the birth at the consulate.
- Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines are citizens. 1987 Constitution, Art. IV §1(2): citizens include those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the Philippines
- Natural-born citizens (citizens from birth without any act to acquire it) who lost citizenship by naturalisation abroad reacquire it by taking the oath of allegiance; their unmarried children under 18 derive it, and children born after reacquisition are citizens by birth. Republic Act 9225 (2003): retention and reacquisition of citizenship by natural-born Filipinos who naturalized abroad
What changes the answer
- LIKELYIf someone in your family became a citizen of another country before the next person in your family was bornRA 9225 (parent reacquires; you derive if under 18, or apply in your own right if born after)
Your parent lost Filipino citizenship by naturalising abroad before you were born; they can reacquire it by oath under RA 9225, and the route for you then depends on your age and birth date.
- UNLIKELYIf the parent is your mother and you were born before 1973
Born before 17 January 1973 to a Filipino mother and a foreign father, you became Filipino only by electing it within a reasonable time after reaching majority, about three years; an election decades later does not count.
If someone in your family became a citizen of another country before the next person in your family was born, one more case
- UNLIKELYIf the parent is your mother and you were born before 1973Citizen by birth
Born before 17 January 1973 to a Filipino mother and a foreign father, you became Filipino only by electing it within a reasonable time after reaching majority, about three years; an election decades later does not count.