My son is going from the US to Puerto Rico. Is it correct to say that he's leaving the country even...?

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grt_n_pwrfl_oz

No. If he doesn't need a passport (which he doesn't) and isn't going to a new federal government (which he's not) he's not leaving the country.

Lost. at. Sea.

That's depends entirely on your political view of Puerto Rico. For me leaving P. R. to the States ( US ) or any other place is leaving my country because I believe P. R. is a country. For many people this is very confuse or a contradiction, but not for me.
I love my Island.

proud mom of karina

this is a tricky (???) he is crossing the sea but he is going to a us territory , he does not need passport to get in or out of puerto rico , that means he is not leaving the country. we are (estado libre associado) witch means that we are an associated state of united states , it is us territory and we have the same laws ,the free part of (estado libre associado ) is that we don't pay taxes , have our own teams for every sport . i think its the best option it work for puerto rico and it works for us why do you think the us wont make us an official state and add a star to flag there's is more there than you know . every one born in puerto rico is a us citizen .

eimittaa

Yes your son is leaving the country. The status of Puerto rico is known as "El Estado Libre Asociado" which in english means The Free state Association otherwise known as The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Even though you don't need a passport it does not mean that you are not leaving the country. Up until this year American citizens did not need a passport to go to and from Canada or to Mexico or to several carribean islands. Does that mean that Canada was apart of the USA for all those years or perhaps Mexico? Americans used to use a drivers license and a brth certificate to go to these aforementioned places. Now a passport is needed to return to the United States form those places (Mexico Canada and some Carribean Islands)

Also The People in Puerto Rico do not vote in presidential or congressional elections (senate or representatives). The People in Puerto Rico do not pay federal income tax on their wages or on their savings accounts.
Also the official language of Puerto Rico is Spanish in their constituonal government. The USA does not have an oficial language certified by the US constitution. Hence the problem here of which language to force everyone in USA to speak. But that is a subject for another topic.

So to sum it all up. Yes he is leaving the United States becasue Puerto Rico is not the fifty-first state. The USA has 50 states.
Yet is is considered a US territory but with a special status as I said before called The Free Associated State.
Just like the Panama Canal zone was a us territory until 1999 when it had a us military base their and it used the UUS post Office just like Puerot Rico does and also the island of Guam in the Pacific is a US territory and also the small marshall island of microneisa in the pacific are all examples of US territories where you do not needa us passport but they are not part of the US so it is like leaving the US to go to another place.

I hope this helps you in answering your question.

Additional thought:

The only difference with Puerto rico is that the special relationship between it and the US govt allows Puerto Ricans to be considered US citizens with the right to move here instantaneously to any part of the USA without visa and permission. Also they travel to other countries with a US Passport and follow all the diplomatic rules of the United States. (such as no offical travel to Cuba etc.)

tamara

Yes, it is correct since Puerto Rico is a country (they are a different nation :culture,language,ethnicity,religion it is politically associated to the US as a free associated state since 1952, but still this relationship does not make PR part of the US or become annexated.

Lprod

He IS leaving the country..... Puerto Rico has a special political status (it's not a territory but an "associate state" -- which I find to be a very weird and ambiguous status but who am I to critizice them) but is NOT part of the USA.... they cannot vote in your elections as far as I know.... they have their own constitution, official languages, elections, etc. You don't have a delegation of Florida going to the Olympics right? But Puerto Rico does have local teams for all sports and they are not joint to those from the USA. So yeah, he is leaving the country.

short2stuff1922

No, because he is not leaving the country since Puerto Rico is part of the United States. You could say he will be leaving for the South Islands or like my mom said, "down on the islands".

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