Guide to Puerto Rico and US Citizenship Materials in US National Archives

Records relating to the history of U.S. citizenship in Puerto Rico at the US National Archives

The National Archives at Philadelphia is the repository for the permanently valuable records of federal agencies and federal courts in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

We do hold Declarations of Persons Who Retained Spanish Citizenship and Petitions for Naturalization in the records of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. You can click on the links below to view their entries in the National Archives Catalog. Both series were digitized and made available on FamilySearch.org. I believe all the Declarations of Persons Who Retained Spanish Citizenship were scanned, but it’s possible the Petitions for Naturalization were only scanned up to a point.

Declarations of Persons Who Retained Spanish Citizenship, 1900-1941

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4497876

Petitions for Naturalization, 1901-1906, 1917-1985

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2843635

*From 1906-1917, the immigration service determined that the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico did not have jurisdiction over naturalization matters and in general there are no petitions for this period.

In addition to those two series, we also hold the following series of records related to naturalizations and citizenship in Puerto Rico. Many of these series were also digitized by FamilySearch.

Certificate of Naturalization Receipt Stubs, 1917-1927

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4499104

Declarations of Allegiance, 1939-1940

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4497877

*There are 18 Declarations of Allegiance filed in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York. I think they might be in this series:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4510183

According to NARA’s Guide to Puerto Rican Records: “Naturalization papers include declarations of intention, petitions for naturalization, and depositions, as well as a limited number of case files. Petitions for naturalization filed in the District Court in Puerto Rico often include supplemental documents such as birth certificates or affidavits. Repatriation oaths of allegiance, in general, were filed by women who lost their U.S. citizenship through marrying an alien prior to 1922 when women derived their status from their husband. There are two series of naturalization records that are unique to Puerto Rico. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War, “Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula” could retain their citizenship by submitting a declaration to that effect. Native born inhabitants of Puerto Rico were not afforded this option. Section 5 of the Jones Act of 1917 conferred American citizenship on individuals born in Puerto Rico. Under the terms of this section, any person born in Puerto Rico of alien parentage, including whose parents retained Spanish citizenship, could acquire U.S. citizenship by filing a Declaration of Allegiance to this effect. These Declarations of Allegiance are often accompanied by copies of the individual’s birth certificate.”

Further contact:

Stephen Charla, Archivist

Research Services

The National Archives at Philadelphia

14700 Townsend Road

Philadelphia, PA 19154-1025

Phone: (215) 305-2053

Fax: (215) 305-2052

Email: stephen.charla@nara.gov

Records relating to the history of U.S. citizenship in Puerto Rico at the US National Archives

Declarations of Persons Who Retained Spanish Citizenship, 1900-1941

Petitions for Naturalization, 1901-1906, 1917-1985

Certificate of Naturalization Receipt Stubs, 1917-1927

Declarations of Allegiance, 1939-1940

Declarations of Intention [Ponce and Mayaguez], 1917-1939

Declarations of Intention [San Juan], 1900-1969

Index to Petitions for Naturalization and Declarations of Allegiance, 1917-1941

Lists and Court Orders in Naturalization Proceedings, 1929-1973

Naturalization Case Files, 1917-1970

Petitions for Naturalization, Military, 1944-1955

Petitions for Naturalization Transferred from Other Courts, 1953-1971

Repatriation Oaths of Allegiance, 1942-1973