As long as they know English? That seems like an absurd requirement, surely it’s by birth?

For citizenship, yes. They're saying that not knowing English makes it harder to work in the US:

- Puerto Ricans are US citizens

- So as long as they know English then [working in the U.S. is] relatively easy.

thanks for clarifying I think verelo must have missed the word "so"

I don’t think I did, where would you put it? Seems by the downvotes I offended someone, I don’t really know where but keen to correct it if that is the case!

What djKianoosh means is that you missed reading the word "so", leading you to read the comment as:

"Puerto Ricans are US citizens as long as they know English..."

...instead of:

"Puerto Ricans are US citizens so as long as they know English..."

Gotcha! That makes way more sense and addresses my original question for sure, thank you!

What the comment says: "Puerto Ricans are US citizens so as long as they know English ... it's relatively easy"

What you think the comment says: "Puerto Ricans are US citizens as long as they know English"

right, I totally get how English would help getting a job. I thought the post implied that it was a requirement for citizenship, which seemed odd since no one would speak English at birth anyway.