File No. 137.5/4a.
No. 80. General Instruction Circular.
Washington , December 9, 1911 .
To the American consular officers:
Gentlemen: You are informed that persons may be registered in principal consular offices as citizens of Porto Rico or the Philippine Islands, “owing allegiance to the United States,” in the books provided for the registration of American. citizens, with the necessary changes made therein. As to those persons who are entitled to be considered citizens of Porto Rico, you are referred to the act of Congress of April 12, 1900, establishing a civil government for Porto Rico, which provides as follows:
All inhabitants continuing to reside therein who were Spanish subjects on the 11th day of April, 1899, and then resided in Porto Rico, and their children born subsequent thereto, shall be deemed and held to be citizens of Porto Rico, and as such entitled to the protection of the United States, except such as shall have elected to preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain on or before the 11th day of April, 1900, in accordance with the provisions of the [Page 3] treaty of peace between the United States and Spain entered into on the 11th day of April, 1899.
As to those persons who are entitled to be considered citizens of the Philippine Islands, you are referred to the following provisions of the act of July 1, 1902:
All inhabitants of the Philippine Islands continuing to reside therein, who were Spanish subjects on the 11th day of April, 1899, and then resided in-said islands, and their children born subsequent thereto, shall be deemed and held to be citizens of the Philippine Islands and as such entitled to the protection of the United States, except such as shall have elected to preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain in accordance with the provisions of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, signed at Paris, December 10, 1898. (30 Stat. L., 1754. Van Dyne on Naturalization, c. IV, pp. 309 and 310.)
It has been held that the requirements of the laws quoted as to residence in Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands refer to legal residence and not necessarily bodily presence on the dates stated.
Persons applying for registration as citizens of Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands should be required to produce sworn applications as to birth and residence, accompanied by the best documentary evidence procurable that they were Spanish subjects at the time of the annexation of the islands, and you should require that their statements be supported by affidavits of two credible persons, as in applications for insular passports. Duplicate certificates of registration should not be issued to persons claiming citizenship of Porto Rico or the Philippine Islands until their applications have been approved by the Department.
I am, etc.,