Filipinos are not US citizens. Citizens of the Philippines are foreign nationals under US law and must go through the same immigration and naturalization process as citizens of any other country to become Americans. That has been the rule since July 4, 1946, when the Philippines became an independent republic and the last legal tie between Filipino nationality and the United States was cut.
The Old “US National” Status Ended in 1946
The United States acquired the Philippines from Spain under the 1898 Treaty of Paris. For the next half-century, Filipinos held the status of “US national” rather than “US citizen.” They owed allegiance to the United States but could not vote in federal elections and lacked other rights tied to full citizenship. The Supreme Court’s Insular Cases established that the Philippines was an “unincorporated” territory where the Constitution did not fully apply.1Foreign Affairs Manual. 8 FAM 102.3 Supreme Court Decisions – Section: Insular Cases
On July 4, 1946, President Truman issued Proclamation 2695, formally withdrawing all US sovereignty over the Philippines and recognizing the new Republic of the Philippines.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 22 USC 1394 – Recognition of Philippine Independence Anyone who had not already naturalized as a US citizen or acquired citizenship through a US-citizen parent became, overnight, solely a citizen of the Philippines.
Some people born in the Philippines during the territorial era have argued that the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship should apply to them. Courts have rejected that argument. Because the Insular Cases held that the Philippines was never incorporated into the United States, the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause did not reach it.1Foreign Affairs Manual. 8 FAM 102.3 Supreme Court Decisions – Section: Insular Cases
How a Filipino Citizen Becomes a US Citizen Today
The process has two steps: first obtain lawful permanent residence (a green card), then apply for naturalization.
The most common route to a green card is family-sponsored immigration, where a US citizen or permanent resident files Form I-130 for a qualifying relative such as a spouse, parent, child, or sibling.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative The filing fee is $675 on paper or $625 online.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule Employment-based petitions and other categories are also available.
Once a Filipino immigrant holds a green card, the second step is filing Form N-400 for naturalization. The filing fee is $760 on paper or $710 online.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application for Naturalization Eligibility rests on two separate time-based tests that applicants often confuse. Continuous residence requires maintaining a home in the United States as a permanent resident for at least five years, or three years if married to a US citizen. Physical presence requires actually being on US soil for at least half that period.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – Continuous Residence Someone who travels abroad frequently can satisfy one and fail the other.
Applicants must also show good moral character, pass an English language test, and pass a civics exam on US history and government. Children born abroad to a US citizen parent may acquire citizenship automatically if the citizen parent met physical-presence requirements before the child’s birth and the child is admitted as a permanent resident while under 18.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1431 – Children Born Outside the United States and Lawfully Admitted for Permanent Residence
The Visa Backlog for Philippine-Born Applicants
The green card step is where the process gets painful. The Philippines is one of the most oversubscribed countries for family-sponsored immigrant visas, and Philippine-born applicants face some of the longest waits in the world. According to the April 2026 Visa Bulletin, current backlogs run approximately:8Travel.State.Gov. Visa Bulletin for April 2026
- Unmarried adult children of US citizens (F1): about 13 years
- Spouses and minor children of permanent residents (F2A): about 2 years
- Unmarried adult children of permanent residents (F2B): about 13 years
- Married adult children of US citizens (F3): about 21 years
- Siblings of adult US citizens (F4): about 21 years
Those are not typos. A US citizen who files today for a sibling in the Philippines may wait over two decades before an immigrant visa becomes available. The one relatively fast category is immediate relatives of US citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents), which has no numerical cap and generally moves much faster.
Dual Citizenship Is Allowed
Both countries permit dual citizenship. US law does not require a citizen to choose one nationality over another, and naturalizing in a foreign country does not put US citizenship at risk.9U.S. Department of State. Dual Nationality From the Philippine side, Republic Act 9225 (the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003) lets former natural-born Filipino citizens who naturalized elsewhere reacquire Philippine citizenship by taking an oath of allegiance before a Philippine consular officer.
Dual nationals must follow the laws of both countries. In practice, that means using a US passport to enter and leave the United States and a Philippine passport when entering and leaving the Philippines.9U.S. Department of State. Dual Nationality It also means US citizens owe federal income tax on worldwide income even while living in the Philippines, though the US-Philippines income tax treaty provides relief from double taxation.10Internal Revenue Service. Income Tax Convention with the Republic of the Philippines
A Narrow Exception: Filipino World War II Veterans and Their Families
One group of Filipinos received a special path to US citizenship long after 1946. More than 260,000 Filipino soldiers fought under the American flag during World War II. The Rescission Act of 1946 declared that their service would not count as US military service for benefits purposes, and the closure of US naturalization offices in the Philippines in 1945 blocked thousands of eligible veterans from completing naturalization through their service.
Congress partially corrected this decades later. The Immigration Act of 1990 granted US citizenship to roughly 26,000 Filipino WWII veterans.11Senator Mazie Hirono. Hirono, Murkowski, Case, Kiggans Reintroduce Bicameral, Bipartisan Bill to Reunite Filipino World War II Veterans with Their Children The law did not extend citizenship or residency to the veterans’ children, who remained subject to the same decades-long visa backlogs described above.
In 2016, USCIS created the Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program, which allows certain family members of these veterans to request parole into the United States while waiting for their immigrant visas to become available. A 2019 termination announcement was reversed, and USCIS has stated it no longer plans to end the program.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program Bipartisan legislation has been reintroduced in Congress to exempt the sons and daughters of these veterans from the numerical caps that create the backlog.11Senator Mazie Hirono. Hirono, Murkowski, Case, Kiggans Reintroduce Bicameral, Bipartisan Bill to Reunite Filipino World War II Veterans with Their Children Only a few thousand of the original 260,000 veterans are still alive.
Outside of that veteran-specific program, being Filipino confers no special immigration or citizenship advantage. The path runs through the same statutes, forms, fees, and waits that apply to every other foreign national.