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do puerto ricans have us passports

Yes. People born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens and use the same United States passport as anyone born in the 50 states; there is no separate “Puerto Rican passport.”

Quick Scoop: Do Puerto Ricans Have U.S. Passports?

Short answer

  • Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth (under U.S. law and long‑standing practice).
  • They apply for and receive the regular blue U.S. passport , not a special territorial one.
  • There is no internationally recognized “Puerto Rico passport” because Puerto Rico is not a sovereign country.

Citizenship basics: Why this is true

  • People born in Puerto Rico are considered United States citizens and fall under U.S. federal law for nationality and passports.
  • A memo on Puerto Rican citizenship notes that Puerto Rican “citizenship” does not exist independently of U.S. citizenship for international protection or travel.
  • If someone born in Puerto Rico renounced U.S. citizenship, they would not have a valid separate Puerto Rican passport and could become effectively stateless for travel.

Think of it this way: for global travel and legal protection abroad, the relevant citizenship and passport for Puerto Ricans is U.S. citizenship and a U.S. passport.

How Puerto Ricans get a U.S. passport

Puerto Ricans follow essentially the same process as any other U.S. citizen:

  1. Prove U.S. citizenship
    • Birth certificate from Puerto Rico or other accepted proof of U.S. citizenship.
  1. Provide identity documents
    • Government ID such as a driver’s license or other accepted photo ID.
  1. Submit the application
    • Fill out the standard U.S. passport application form, supply photos, and pay the U.S. Department of State fees.
  1. Processing
    • Passports are issued by U.S. federal passport agencies; typical timelines (regular vs. expedited) are similar to the mainland.

In other words, a Puerto Rican applying in San Juan is going through the same U.S. system as someone applying in New York or Texas.

Travel: Puerto Rico vs. mainland U.S.

There’s a related question that often pops up in forum discussions: “Do you need a passport to go to Puerto Rico?”

  • U.S. citizens traveling between Puerto Rico and the mainland U.S.
    • Treated like domestic travel ; typically no passport is required, just valid government ID.
* Because of the **Real ID Act** , from May 2025 only compliant IDs are accepted for domestic flights, which can make a passport a convenient backup.
  • Non‑U.S. citizens traveling to Puerto Rico
    • Must follow the same visa and passport rules as entering the rest of the United States (visa, ESTA, etc., depending on nationality).

So, Puerto Ricans themselves hold U.S. passports , and U.S. travelers treat trips to Puerto Rico much like flying to another state.

Forum‑style recap and viewpoints

You’ll often see questions framed like:

“Do Puerto Ricans have a separate passport or are they all American?”

Common answers across forums and travel guides line up on a few points:

  • “They are U.S. citizens and can apply for a U.S. passport like anyone born in the mainland.”
  • “There is no separate Puerto Rican passport recognized for international travel.”
  • “Puerto Rico isn’t a state, but in terms of citizenship and passports , Puerto Ricans are treated the same as other Americans.”

Some discussions also bring up political debates—like whether Puerto Rico should have statehood or different representation—but those debates do not change the current reality: the travel document is the U.S. passport.

TL;DR:
If you’re asking “do Puerto Ricans have US passports,” the answer is yes —they are U.S. citizens and use the standard U.S. passport; there is no separate Puerto Rican passport for international travel.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.