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Limbania Lau

Limbania Daeza Lau was 21 years old when she came to Canada in 1966. She worked as a nurse, met her future husband, a Chinese from Hong Kong, and together they raised their two Canadian sons.

Now retired and a doting grandmother, Lau has come full circle in her journey. Last Jan 18, she received her new Philippine passport, assuming the status of a dual citizen.

"I’m no longer a tourist when I visit the Philippines. I’ll be coming home as a Filipino again," said Lau, her voice brimming with pride.

Lau is one of the thousands of overseas Filipinos who have regained Philippine citizenship.

As of Dec 31 2005, about 12,000 reacquired their Filipino nationality, according to Philippine media reports.

Former Filipinos who were naturalized as US citizens topped the list of the applicants, followed by those in Canada and Australia.

There are between 300,000 to 350,000 Filipino-Canadians and immigrants in Canada.

This number is growing yearly. They are the third largest Asian-Canadian group, after the Chinese and Indo-Canadian communities.

According to Philippine Consul to Vancouver Minerva Jean Falcon, 369 former Filipino citizens in Western Canada have re-acquired Philippine citizenship.

Legislators have said that the 2003 dual citizenship law would encourage the millions of Filipinos abroad to return and invest in the cash-strapped country.

"I can stay in the Philippines as long as I want and I have a little investment there," said Lau, a Vancouver resident.