Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens on March 2, 1917, the day President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act. The law granted citizenship collectively and automatically, with no application required, to people born on the island on or after April 11, 1899, and to earlier-born residents still living there when the Act took effect.1Office of the Historian. Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations
The 17-Year Gap Before Citizenship
Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory when Spain ceded the island under Article II of the Treaty of Paris, signed December 10, 1898, with ratifications exchanged April 11, 1899. That April 11 date became the legal cutoff Congress used later. Article IX of the treaty left the “civil rights and political status” of the island’s inhabitants to be “determined by the Congress.”2Office of the Historian. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Document 712a
Congress’s first answer came in the Foraker Act of 1900. It set up a civil government but stopped short of granting U.S. citizenship. Instead, former Spanish subjects who continued to live on the island were “deemed and held to be citizens of Puerto Rico” entitled to “the protection of the United States.”3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 48 USC Chapter 4, Subchapter I – General Provisions They owed allegiance to the United States without being members of it.
The Supreme Court reinforced that arrangement in the Insular Cases, starting with Downes v. Bidwell in 1901, which held that Puerto Rico belonged to the United States but was “not a part of the United States” for constitutional purposes.4Library of Congress. Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901) Congress, not the Constitution, would decide what rights the island’s residents held. Those rulings have never been fully overturned.
What the Jones-Shafroth Act Did
The 1917 Act granted citizenship collectively. It also restructured Puerto Rico’s government, creating an elected senate and a local bill of rights.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 48 USC Chapter 4, Subchapter I – General Provisions
The United States entered World War I about a month after the Act passed, and roughly 20,000 Puerto Ricans were conscripted. Critics then and since have noted that citizenship and the draft arrived nearly together.
The Current Statute
Puerto Rican birthright citizenship today is governed by 8 U.S.C. ยง 1402. Anyone born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, and subject to U.S. jurisdiction, is a citizen of the United States at birth. People born between April 11, 1899, and January 13, 1941, were declared citizens retroactively as of 1941.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1402 – Persons Born in Puerto Rico on or After April 11, 1899
Statutory Citizenship, Not Constitutional
The citizenship Puerto Ricans hold was created by Congress rather than guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, which covers people born “in the United States.” Some legal scholars argue that Congress could, in theory, alter or revoke that citizenship because it rests on a statute. Others contend that later legislation has effectively anchored it in constitutional principles. The Supreme Court has not settled the question, and the ambiguity is part of what keeps Puerto Rico’s political status contested.
What This Citizenship Includes
Puerto Ricans travel freely between the island and the mainland with no passport or immigration paperwork. They are eligible for federal employment and military service. A Puerto Rican who moves to any of the fifty states can register to vote there immediately and participate in federal elections, including presidential races, with no waiting period beyond what any American faces when relocating.
On the tax side, employers in Puerto Rico withhold Social Security tax at 6.2% and Medicare tax at 1.45%, matching mainland rates, with an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on wages above $200,000.6Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 903, U.S. Employment Tax in Puerto Rico Residents whose only income comes from sources within Puerto Rico generally do not file or pay federal income tax on that income; they pay Puerto Rico income tax instead.7Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 901, Is a Person With Income From Sources Within Puerto Rico Income from outside the island, including mainland income, does trigger a federal filing requirement.
What It Does Not Include
Puerto Ricans living on the island cannot vote for president in the general election. The Constitution allocates Electoral College votes only to states and, through the Twenty-Third Amendment, the District of Columbia. Presidential primaries are open to island residents; the general election is not, so long as they remain in Puerto Rico.
Congressional representation is limited to a single resident commissioner in the U.S. House, who cannot vote on final passage of legislation. Puerto Rico has no senators. About 3.2 million American citizens live under federal laws they have no full vote in shaping.
Federal Benefits
Puerto Rico residents are excluded from Supplemental Security Income, the federal program that provides monthly payments to elderly, blind, and disabled people with limited income. The island receives a smaller federal block grant for a substitute program that pays less and uses stricter eligibility rules. In United States v. Vaello-Madero (2022), the Supreme Court upheld the SSI exclusion, finding a rational basis in the fact that Puerto Rico residents are largely exempt from federal income tax and no violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee. Puerto Rico is likewise excluded from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and receives a block grant for a smaller food assistance program instead.
The Status Question
Puerto Rico has held multiple non-binding referendums on its political status. In the most recent vote in 2024, statehood drew about 59% support, continuing a pattern of pro-statehood majorities in recent plebiscites. Only Congress can admit a state, and no admission legislation has passed. Until Congress acts, Puerto Ricans remain in the position the Treaty of Paris and the Foraker Act first created: American citizens whose rights depend on what Congress is willing to grant.