We are in quite the pickle. I was born outside of Canada and became a naturalized citizen of Canada to my Canadian citizen parents when I was a baby. I just assumed I was a Canadian citizen and my son who was born outside of Canada would be a citizen too! So we came back to Canada when he was a baby and thought nothing of it. My husband came in on a PR. They let us back into Canada with our family I was able to get my son a care card and I have him in school and he’s 9 yrs old now. I know we should have gotten on this sooner but we haven’t really travelled and thusly put off getting his canadian passport which meant I had to get his proof of Canadian citizenship first. Which was denied!!! Because somewhere in the tiny print, it actually was nowhere to be found on the application, i am not a first generation Canadian meaning he doesn’t automatically get citizenship. So we need to fill out an actual application form, but here’s the dilemma… we never got him PR. He’s just been here existing and we are so confused at how this could have happened and noone at anytime said anything. We had no problem with the documentation we have getting him medical or education or anything. So now I need to sponsor him as family member to get his PR and I’m scared they are going to realize that he’s been here this whole time with no PR ano I can’t find the answer anywhere as to if there are going to be repercussions for that. We just don’t Know what to do at this point. Please advise.
Living in Canada with child who is apparently not even a citizen!
- Thread starter RobbieRail
- Start date
It makes sense that he's not Canadian since he is the second generation born abroad. You can't point at anyone else for this. It was up to you to research and understand the immigration rules as it applies to yourself and your family.
You need to submit an application to sponsor him for PR. That's really your only path forward. I think you'll want to include an LOE (letter of explanation) to explain that you incorrectly assumed he was a citizen and this is the reason for the very late PR application. Again, don't try to point blame at anyone else. You need to take responsibility for this error and overlight. I would submit the application asap and avoid travel outside of Canada until the application is approved. Processing times are around 8-10 months right now, I believe. If you are stressed about this, then hire an immigration lawyer to help you through the process (stay away from immigration consultants).
Yep thanks for your reply, I’m really not blaming anyone so not sure why the negativity of your reply. I’m just baffled that we were able to live here this whole time without this ever being an issue in all our other applications. I realize as I mentioned in my post that I need to sponsor him, I would love to hear from some other people in similar situations because there may be another path we need to take and if we do need to sponsor him I’m not sure paying for an immigration lawyer is going to make the process any quicker. If you have ever read through the paperwork to apply for Canadian citizenship you will see that they routinely mention naturalized citizens so I’m sure anyone else in this position would be as equally confused. The information about the change after 2009 is not even present on the application form. But yes we should have gotten on it sooner.
Sorry, I'm very direct. Not being negative. Just direct. IRCC doesn't react well to blaming others so just trying to pass on that taking responsibility for this yourself is the best path forward when you write the LOE.
Paying for an immigration lawyer will not make the process faster. You are right about that.
I have been on this forum for far longer than I probably should and have never seen a similar post. I think you're going to be hard-pressed to find someone who has been in this situation. It's extremely unique IMO.
The citizenship rules are not covered in the proof of citizenship forms. The following page and the "am I a Canadian" tool is really the best option for this: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/become-canadian-citizen/eligibility/already-citizen.html Water under the bridge at this point, of course.
Oh - and a small but important nitpick. You are not a naturalized Canadian citizen. You are a Canadian citizen by descent through your parents based on them having Canadian citizenship before you were born and then you being born outside of Canada to them. I'm assuming those facts about your parents and the timing of when you were born are correct?
Thankyou! I think I’m just in a bit of shock and I. Sensitive having been combing over all of this online today and not finding straightforward answers. I think I may have just read the
yes my parents were Canadian citizens, my mom I guess would have been naturalized as she immigrated from Holland, but my father was born here. I thought naturalized? Does secret change anything though?
Yes, your mother would have been naturalized and your father would have received citizenship through being born in Canada.
This doesn't change anything for your kid. It would only be different if YOU had recieved Canadian citizenship through naturalization. But you didn't. You received it through descent by being the first generation born abroad to Canadian parents. Canadian citizenship does not transfer to the second generation born abroad (i.e. your child).
I would focus on getting the PR application submitted as soon as possible. I honestly don't think you're going to get any advice here on your super unique situation. I have never seen this before here. However if you have other regular questions about the application process (not related to your unique situation), then there are a number of active threads in the Family Sponsorship section of the forum that cover dependent sponsorship. So suggest you may want to find those and spend some time reading through them.
To be clear I received my citizenship after returning back to canada age 2, and I have lived here most my life. So I think I’m naturalized. But that doesn’t seem to change the process. Yes, I’ll have to start sponsor him.
Oh sorry you are correct. I’m a citizen by descent because of my parents, and my son will eventually be a citizen by naturalization I guess.
Naturalization is a very specific process. It would mean that your parents submitted an actual citizenship application for you vs. submitting a proof of citizenship application for you. I think it's likely that they submitted a proof of citizenship application for you once you were in Canada. That still means you have citizenship through descent and not naturalization.
Yes, exactly. He will become a PR and then be naturalized (and become a citizen).
Okay, so you've covered the part that you are a Canadian citizen by descent (I am too and was equally baffled at this change to the law by Harper, thought it couldn't possibly apply to someone who spent 30+ - well more than majority - of my life in Canada. But it does. (USA has a different system BTW - anyone who spends more than 6 years over the age of 16 can pass on citizenship, or somethign like that. Meaning they tie it to time you spend in USA and not just where you were born and citzienship type of parents).
If your child really is not even a PR, you will have to apply for PR status. Good thing is it won't be that difficult, and shouldn't affect other things like care card if you don't mention it.
Does your child have another citizenship? I still woudln't suggest him travelling out of Canada until he gets that PR status.
There is some good news though: as soon as your child becomes a PR, he can apply for citizenship based on being ... child of a Canadian citizen and now a PR. It will be granted, processing time perhaps 4-8 months. Yes, I have done this.
And your child will be a naturalized citizen, and will be able to pass on citizenshp (by descent) - if that's any consolation.
In my view the only real reason to consult a lawyer is to find out if there's any shortcut, and I'm pretty confident there isn't one. Still could be worth checking in a consultation.
Thanks for the reply, of course I saw it right away since i have been sitting here mulling this over since this morning.
‘Yes my child has Australian citizenship and I have dual Aus/Cad. Yes it’s baffling that someone who immigrated to Canada as an adult has a clearer path towards citizenship for their child than I do, having grown up in Canada all my life with Canadian parents. They had me accidentally on holiday in Australia (long story), and I went back and met my partner, we actually had my daughter in Canada so she’s a citizen no problem, but then had to go back for my husbands work and hence we had my son there. I can’t believe I didn’t see this issue till now, totally my fault and embarrassing but he wasnt issued a visa at the airport or anything to clue us into the fact that he wasn’t a citizen. It wasn’t till we needed a canadIan passport that we realized. We had just travelled on his Australian passport and that was never an issue. So it’s a bit ridiculous not to have realized this I get it, but I’m shell shocked.
Yep, that totally makes sense. Your son traveled to Canada pre-eTAs being mandatory and only required his Aussie passport to enter Canada (being from a visa exempt country). There would have been no visa issued at the border for that reason.