The Secretary of State to
the American Chargé d’Affaires.
Department of State,
Washington, October 18,
1911.
No. 184.
Sir: The department is in receipt of the
legation’s despatch No. 271, of June 30, 1911, in regard to the Chinese
nationality law of March 28, 1909, and the Executive rules appended
thereto. In this despatch attention is called to the fact that the
provisions of this law may affect Chinese who had been naturalized as
citizens of Hawaii prior to its annexation to the United States in 1898,
and were collectively naturalized as citizens of the United States under
the law of April 30, 1900; also Chinese claiming citizenship of the
United States through birth within the territory and jurisdiction
thereof, and those who allege that they were residing in the Philippine
Islands as subjects of Spain on April 11, 1899, and were still residing
there on July 1, 1902, so that they are to be considered citizens of the
Philippine Islands and as such entitled to the protection of the [Page 70] United States, under the
provision of the act of Congress of the date last mentioned.
In regard to the class of persons first mentioned, and with especial
reference to sections 1 and 2 of the Executive rules referred to above,
the Department approves the suggestion of the legation that consular
officers should be instructed by the legation to advise such persons as
opportunity arises that they should apply for registration as American
citizens. If their registration is approved, the consul should then
communicate this fact to the local Chinese officials. In determining the
status of these persons, the consuls should require those who have been
residing continuously in China for two years or more to produce evidence
to overcome the presumption of expatriation arising under the second
paragraph of section 2 of the act of March 2, 1907, and in this
connection the circular instruction of May 13, 1908, should be
consulted. With reference to the provision of Executive rule 3, it may
be said that this Government does not concede that failure to comply
with its requirements is conclusive evidence of abandonment of American
citizenship.
Rule 4 provides as follows:
Any Chinese who have renounced their nationality without
permission and have been naturalized in foreign countries before
this law came into effect, who live in the interior or who have
bought or otherwise obtained real estate in the interior and who
are enjoying the rights of Chinese subjects, will be considered
Chinese subjects.
The legation’s suggestion that the Chinese Government be asked to so
amend or interpret this rule as to prevent any possible hardship to
Chinese naturalized as American citizens, who may have inherited or may
inherit landed property in the interior of China, is approved. The
Department desires, therefore, that you avail yourself of a suitable
opportunity to bring this matter to the attention of the foreign office
and inquire, with reference to this rule, whether an arrangement can not
be made whereunder these Chinese-Americans may be allowed a reasonable
time to dispose of property inherited by them.
Rule 7 provides as follows:
All Chinese who were born and have lived in foreign countries
before this law came into effect may, if they so desire, be
regarded as Chinese subjects.
In order to prevent Chinese persons born in the United States from
claiming American or Chinese nationality according to convenience, the
consuls should give them an opportunity to register as American
citizens, and when they have done so should inform the local Chinese
authorities as well as the Department.
As to Chinese born in the Philippines and claiming the right to American
citizenship, under the provision of the act of July 1, 1902, each case
must be decided according to its peculiar facts. In this connection I
inclose for your information a copy of a letter of September 11, 1911,
to the Secretary of War, in regard to the citizenship of José
Velasco.
Owing to the disturbed conditions prevailing at present in various parts
of China, the Department leaves to your discretion the determination of
an opportune moment for the issuance of these instructions to the
American consular officers in China; you may also decide the time and
manner of presenting to the Wai Wu Pu the matter of [Page 71] landed property in the interior inherited by
naturalized Americans of Chinese extraction.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
The Acting Secretary of
State to the Secretary of
War.
Department of State,
Washington, September 11,
1911.
Sir: The Department has received your
letters of July 20, August 8, and August 19, 1911, in regard to the
citizenship of José Velasco, a resident of the Philippine Islands.
Accompanying your letter, first mentioned, are copies of the
opinions of the attorney general of the Philippine Islands and the
law officer of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, both of which concur
in recommending that José Velasco be granted a passport as a citizen
of the Philippine Islands owing allegiance to the United States.
It appears that Velasco’s father, a native of China, had been
domiciled in the Philippines for more than 50 years, and José
Velasco has resided there continuously since his birth at Manila, 24
years ago. Both father and son are baptized Christians (Roman
Catholics), and neither is inscribed upon the Chinese registry at
Manila as a Chinese citizen or upon the Spanish registry for the
purpose of originally establishing Spanish citizenship, or under the
provisions of the treaty of Paris. The father acquired a large
fortune in the Philippines, consisting of both real and personal
property, and the son is engaged in business at Manila in connection
with his father.
The law of Spain (art. 2, royal decree of Nov. 17, 1852) provides
that “foreigners who have obtained naturalization papers or acquired residence in accordance to law
are considered as Spaniards.” By the Spanish law of September 18,
1870, published in the Official Gazette of Manila, it is declared
that “foreigners acquiring naturalization papers or residence according to law in any town of the Spanish
Provinces beyond the seas are considered as Spaniards.”
Law 3, Title 11, Book 6, of the “Novisima Recopilación” provides
that—
The following must be considered as residents: Any foreigner
that has been naturalized; everyone born within these
Kingdoms; every convert to the Catholic faith in said
Kingdoms; he who is self-supporting and establishes a
domicile therein; he who asks for and obtains a residence in
any town; he who marries a native woman of this Kingdom and
resides with her herein, and if the woman is a foreigner who
marries a native man by such fact she acquires the domicile
of her husband; he who settles in the country after buying
immovable property and possessions; he who being a workman
comes to live in and follow his vocation herein and in the
same manner, he who lives herein and performs manual labor
or has a retail shop; he who has the office of a public
counsel, honorary, or any other office of any kind which the
natives only can hold; he who enjoys the benefits of the
pastures and other commodities which are proper to the
natives; he who is a householder for 10 years in these
Kingdoms; and the same of all other cases in which-, in
accordance with the common law, the royal orders, and other
laws the foreigner acquires naturalization and residence,
and where, in accordance with them he is liable to the same
taxes as natives for the legal and fundamental reasons of
enjoying the same advantages as they do, etc:
The Department has not at hand the means to determine whether this
law is applicable to the Philippines. But the attorney general of
the Philippines states that it is; and assuming that his statement
is correct, there would appear to be no question that the elder
Velasco acquired residence in the Philippine Islands, became a
Spanish subject, and was such on April 11, 1899.
The Spanish Civil Code (art. 18), which was promulgated in 1889,
declares that “children, while they remain under the parental power,
have the nationality of their parents.” The Spanish law of November
17, 1852, and the law of 1870, referred to above, which governed the
subject before the promulgation of the civil code, both recognized
the principle that children follow the nationality of the father. It
follows that the nationality of José Velasco, who was a minor on
April 11, 1899, was the same as that of his father. It may be
observed also that article 17 of the Spanish Civil Code declares
that persons born in Spanish territory are Spaniards.
José Velasco has made application to the Governor General of the
Philippine Islands for a passport and has subscribed the oath of
allegiance to the United States as required by the rules. This
Department concurs in the opinion of the attorney general of the
Philippine Islands and the law officer of the Bureau of Insular
Affairs that Velasco is a citizen of the Philippine Islands, and as
such [Page 72] entitled to the
protection of the United States by virtue of the provisions of
section 4 of the act of Congress of July 1, 1902, which provides:
That all inhabitants of the Philippine Islands continuing to
reside therein who were Spanish subjects on the eleventh day
of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, 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 tenth, eighteen hundred
and ninety-eight.
I have, etc.,
