This is a question that has been playing on my mind for a wee while lately. My wife is living here with me since 2005,..living with the ILR visa in her (old ) Filipino passport. Her new passport, issued in Philippine embassy London a couple of years ago, doesn't show all her visas. We have 2 small kids and she works part time locally. IF ( if ),....we decided to up and leave the UK and stay at our house over in Cebu,...with the outlook of staying for good,....and say after 2-3 years it didn't work out,....would my wife be able to just walk straight back into the UK with her ILR ? Would it be safer for her to apply for a UK citizenship before we go ? She has already passed the test for 'living in UK' and we know that its just a matter of stumping up our hard earned cash and applying for it. Would it be okay to go without the Citizenship and expect to be welcome when we get back (IF ) we come back ? Jonny
Hi Jonny, I have to tell you straight that if your wife is out of UK for 2 years she will lose her ILR This has happened so often and I can tell you it's a heartbreaker. It happened just recently where a guy was so ill he needed to return to UK or he'd be dead His wife's ILR was just over 2 years out. She was not allowed to return with him. Period. Yes, it might be a pain and it is expensive but having gotten so far on her immigration journey it makes no sense at all that she doesn't get that citizenship and British Passport. Just do it. May I also very strongly advise that once she has her British Citizenship and British passport that she then makes an appoinment at the Philippine Embassy London to re-acquire her Philippine Citizenship. Also very important if you both intend to go to Philippines for any length of time. Apart from the visa aspects she would have limited legal access to and ownership of land if she does not get back that citizenship. Philippine Citizenship is also very important and must be re-acquired via an oath taking ceremony. It's not expensive and doesn't take long but it's crucially important given your potential plans. Hope I've convinced you how important it is for her to become Dual Citizen regardless of cost.
Micawber has it right; it would be utter madness not to secure a UK passport when she has the chance, and then to re-secure her Filipina citizenship. These things are getting harder all the time.
Great advise. Every day's a school day as they say. I honestly never knew that her ILR would be forfeited after 2 years ! We have thought about the citizenship for a few years now but 'never got round to it'. Quess thats the first thing on the list of 'to do' before the end of this year. Thanks very much, Jonny
Jonny, please don't forget to have her re-acquire Philippine Citizenship, she automatically loses that after her UK oath-taking.
Are you sure Peter? Does the UK oath explicitly require renunciation of all other citizenship? I thought the loss of Philippine citizenship was on explicit renunciation of citizenship and cancellation of the Philippine passport?
The UK is not at all bothered by multiple citizenship - the Philippines on the other hand treats acquistion of another nationality as renunciation of Philippine citizenship. This used to be permanent, but now Philippine citizenship can be re-acquired by those who have taken a second nationality.
Yeah I know that, Ana had to explicitly renounce her Philippine citizenship in 1996 in order to lose it in Korea, I spent a large part of the last eight years getting it back for her as she ended up effectively stateless at one point, I will check but I was pretty sure that Philippine citizenship was only now lost on explicit renunciation in those countries that required one to do that in order to acquire said country's citizenship.
It's not been that long ago (2003) that the laws were actually ammended to allow for re-acquisition and to allow for Dual Citizenship. Republic Act No.9225 (August 29, 2003)amends the Commonwealth Act No. 63 (October 21, 1936) which states that a Filipino citizen may lose Philippine citizenship:- 1. By naturalization in a foreign country 2. By express renunciation of citizenship 3. By subscribing to an oath of allegiance to support the constitution or laws of a foreign country upon attaining twenty-one years of age or more 4. By accepting commission in the military, naval or air service of a foreign country 5. By cancellation of the certificate of naturalization 6. By having been declared by competent authority, a deserter of the Philippine armed forces in time of war, unless subsequently, a plenary pardon or amnesty has been granted 7. In case of a woman, upon her marriage, to a foreigner if, by virtue of the laws in force in her husband’s country, she acquires his nationality. Undertaking the UK oath of allegiance, is a de facto renunciation of Philippine citizenship. The ammendment under RA9225 provides a mechanism for Dual Citizenship. Dual citizens can enjoy full civil and political rights in the Philippines, including the following:- a. right to vote and be elected or appointed to any public office in the Philippines subject to existing Philippine laws, b. right to acquire land and other properties under his name, c. right to engage in business in the Philippines and have 100% ownership of the business, d. right to reside in the Philippine without need of visa, and e. right to practise profession in the Philippines upon application of a license or permit to engage in such practice More about this in plain English, can be found in this explanation called Retention and Re-Acquisition of Philippine Citizenship Here's some useful information from the Philippine Embassy London - What are the requirements for Philippine citizenship retention/reacquisition? Oath taking ceremonies take place from Monday to Friday, 12:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Applicants should submit their application (with all the requirements) at least one (1) hour before the scheduled oath taking. Further Note: On the day of the oath taking, applicants may submit their application for a new passport, for which a separate fee of GBP43.00 will be charged, along with the submission of other requirements. Just as a footnote. Dual Citizenship is expressly prohibited for foreigners. Any foreigner applying for Philippine Citizenship would have to legally and correctly rennounce their previous citizenship and state that fact in open court.
Thanks Peter, it was RA 9225 that we used to get Ana back her Philippine Citizenship, I was sure though that there had been a further relaxation of the circumstances that cause loss of nationality but I might have been thinking of point 7 as applied to the UK and of course that only works for permanent ILR. Thanks for clearing that one up. By the way I too have found jlp-law.com to be very useful over the years.
We're at his stage now as the wife has her british citizenship and we're now in the process of getting her passport. Her interview is on the 15th april in fact, the passport should be with us 7-10 days after. But looking at what has been posted we need to get down to london for the swearing back of allegiance. I suppose I'll have to call the philippine embassey when I get home but can you just rock up at the embassy at say 10am on the day with all your paperwork and the wife can then do the ceromoney that afternoon? All seem very simple!! Also so does anyone know how long it'd take to get the new philippine passport issued?
Stu, as with all things like this, I would suggest it's better to call beforehand to be sure your wife can be accommodated on the day and time you want. When my wife did hers (afternoon session) she was the only participant and spend the following hour after the oath taking making chlka chika with the consul (was a lady at that time). Just prior to the oath taking the Embassy staff will ask your wife for her existing Philippine paspport and it will be cancelled there and then. A new passport will require an application form to be completing together with all need photo's and documents etc. Takes about 4-8 weeks depending for a new one. Actually, a passport isn't essential. My wife wasn't fully prepared for this, so didn't immediately apply. A Philippine Passport is not necessary for travel if you already have a British Passport. That's why I always suggest getting hold of the British Passport beforehand. Also, it's not needed for entry to Philippines. My wife just shows our marriage certificate and her Philippine Citizenship Certificate together with her British passport and mine and we are then eligible for Balikbayan Visa-free 1 year stay. So not having the Philippine passport need not be a hinderance. We've made the past few trips that way. Hope that helps you
Thanks for that. just want to make it as simple as possible so we may go down london as soon as she gets her brit passport for when we go out to the phils in june. So if there is a delay in getting phils passport it won't matter because we'll not be going out full time until the start of october. Does that make any sense? Good info by the way on traveling on a brit passport out there! Did your wife have to book an appointment when she did the oath? I'll be a bit more complicated because I'll have to get a 12 month visa before going out in october and then return to the uk again just before it runs out to get issued with another one! This is because I'll be coming back into the phils on my own from work and cant relie on the balikbayan stamp. Also thinking about it I may need a letter from my company as I'll not have a return flight out of the phils when I get of my ship.
I think you've got all the bases covered Stu, just need to set a workable schedule. Yes my wife did call the day before to make an appoinment. But in the end she'd have been OK to just turn up. Just I don't feel comfortable just arriving, I prefer to have some confidence that when I go to London to get something done it has a good chance to happen. I hate going to London. My wife loves it
Me to. Looks like I'll have to give in now though. I've been putting off taking here since she came to the Uk in 2004! So I think it'll be a case of getting the paperwork sorted before hand and making a few days of it and show her the sights. thanks ofr all the info by the way.
Yes,..thanks for all the info indeed. Certainly cleared up a lot of confusion for me too. I haven't looked yet,...but I don't suppose there's an Embassy nearer me up here in Scotland ??
Yes, there's a Consulate in Edinburgh:- Philippine Honorary Consulate Ms. Gladys Corbett, Consul, a.h. 1 Bankhead Medway, Edinburgh EH11 4BY Tel: 0131 453 3222 Fax. 0131 453 6444 g.corbett@blueyonder.co.uk I've no idea just what can be done. You'll need to call or send e-mail Usually these smaller consulates are very helpful. It would certainly be a big help (and cost saver), well unless you'd like to spend some time in London spending loads of wonga
