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what do you mean by be careful? is it dangerous in certain areas more than others?
The answer to that is fairly obvious... no matter where you go anywhere in the world there are certain areas more dangerous than others. And no one should let some of this talk scare them off Puerto Rico. Just consider a relatively easy example... millions of people live in and visit Los Angeles every year and love the warm weather and beaches but clearly they use common sense and don't go wandering around the gang and drug areas. Puerto Rico is no different - millions of people live and visit there without problem. Just recognize the obvious fact that anywhere has areas that a more dangerous than others and act accordingly.
Actually a citizen from PR cannot become a US president, and neither can Puerto Ricans vote for a US president. There are technicalities that you should educate yourself on.
I'm not convinced that someone born in PR can not become president. Actually if you have an official residence in the US but live in PR you can vote as an absentee. I am pretty sure that residency is the key. Anyone born in PR gains full citizenship by birth when they establish residency in the US.
To answer the original question, yes US citizens can work in PR, if they can find a job. There is no Visa and the amount of paperwork required to live and work in PR takes a few days.
I live in PR now after having lived my whole life on the mainland. I suggest having a job before coming down. Also take the advice given here and check it out for an extended stay. PR is not for everybody.
Section 1 of Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that a President must:
be a natural born citizen of the United States
be at least 35 years old
have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years
Since Puerto Ricans are natural born citizens of the United States, as long as you maintained legal residence within one of the 50 states for at least 14 years and were at least 35 years old, a Puerto Rican could become President.
Look at this article in the Puerto Ricon Herald - Puerto Ricans are statutory residents, which carries a different weight. Apparently the wording of the Constitution has never been tested fully. This is an old article from 2003, but nothing has changed. I think the issue may be residency - a native born PR living in PR may possibly not be eligible, but a PR who has lived actually in the U.S. or on a military base may be. Remember that Puerto Rico is an unicorporated territory. I think we could ask the same thing about someone from Guam and end up with the same conundrum.
Anyone born in PR gains full citizenship by birth when they establish residency in the US.
That's not quite accurate. There is no such requirement to "establish residency in the US." They do not need to come to the U.S. to gain citizenship. They are born with it right there in Puerto Rico. And just for the record, there is no residency requirement period for citizenship. If parents who are U.S. citizens give birth to a child outside of the U.S., that child is automatically a U.S. citizen. The child could live the rest of its life never residing in the U.S. and still always be a U.S. citizen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by irothste
the amount of paperwork required to live and work in PR takes a few days.
What paperwork???
Last edited by mythspell; 10-10-2007 at 02:05 PM..
Look at this article in the Puerto Ricon Herald - Puerto Ricans are statutory residents, which carries a different weight. Apparently the wording of the Constitution has never been tested fully. This is an old article from 2003, but nothing has changed. I think the issue may be residency - a native born PR living in PR may possibly not be eligible, but a PR who has lived actually in the U.S. or on a military base may be. Remember that Puerto Rico is an unicorporated territory. I think we could ask the same thing about someone from Guam and end up with the same conundrum.
Actually, you've misread the article somewhat. Puerto Ricans are statutory citizens not "statutory residents". Perhaps that error is what lead you to say "I think the issue may be residency". However, a thorough reading of the article indicates the issue is about where you were born not where you resided. This is best illustrated by their first example - one son is born in Puerto Rico then he and his parents move to New Jersey where a brother is born. Many years later both brothers want to become president. The question raised was does the older brother qualify since he was born in Puerto Rico - note that they still raised the question regardless of the fact that he had been a resident of New Jersey ever since he was a little child. All the examples boiled down to would the person be eligible for president if they were physically born somewhere that wasn't a U.S. state.
However, I think the article is rather off-base in its conjectures. I've never heard any experts who considered this type of conjecture to have any real merit. But rather, it is more simply a matter of the wording "natural born citizen" would preclude naturalized citizens (people who weren't born a citizen but became one afterwards) from being President. In any event, it would seem this whole Presidency issue has gotten away from the intended topic of this thread. The bottom-line would seem to be that if this issue is of concern to the people of Puerto Rico it would be another reason for them to vote for statehood. However, I don't think very many are concerned about it.
Correct on all counts...boy, one word and everything goes south, huh??? Citizen, resident...oh well...and yes, you are correct, we are off topic - and having lived in the Caribbean, you are again correct - I doubt I met a soul from PR that wanted statehood other than at election time.
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