Citizenship by decent confusion

[RWols]

Hi all,

I will start by apologising in advance for asking a question that I’m sure has been asked a thousand times before.

My grandmother, who died before I was born, was born in 1917 in Toronto and lived in Canada until she was 5 years old before the family relocated back to Ireland.

My father was born in 1956 in Ireland.
I was born 1990 also in Ireland.

I am presuming that my father is untitled to Canadian citizenship, but am wondering whether I am too? What I have read so far online has left me rather confused. I am aware that the law has changed and there is now a first generation limit on citizenship by descent but I am confused by the dates and whether this applied retroactively or not. Any help would be great.

Many thanks,

R

 

[zardoz]

Hi all,

I will start by apologising in advance for asking a question that I’m sure has been asked a thousand times before.

My grandmother, who died before I was born, was born in 1917 in Toronto and lived in Canada until she was 5 years old before the family relocated back to Ireland.

My father was born in 1956 in Ireland.
I was born 1990 also in Ireland.

I am presuming that my father is untitled to Canadian citizenship, but am wondering whether I am too? What I have read so far online has left me rather confused. I am aware that the law has changed and there is now a first generation limit on citizenship by descent but I am confused by the dates and whether this applied retroactively or not. Any help would be great.

Many thanks,

R

I believe that the answer to the question, "are you entitled to Canadian citizenship?", is "no". There are a lot of "giving" and "taking" through the various amendments to the citizenship legislation but I believe that that eventual outcome for people in your situation is a negative. My children are probably in the same situation.

On the other hand, your father may well be entitled, but this doesn't help you.

 

[hawk39]

Hi all,
I am presuming that my father is untitled to Canadian citizenship, but am wondering whether I am too? What I have read so far online has left me rather confused. I am aware that the law has changed and there is now a first generation limit on citizenship by descent but I am confused by the dates and whether this applied retroactively or not. Any help would be great.

Sorry, but zardoz is correct. You're not eligible because you are second generation born abroad. Even though your father's citizenship is retroactive to his birth and you were born in a year before the generation limit was put in effect, the particular paragraph in the legislation that gave your father his citizenship is included in the section that enacts the first generational limit.

 

[Janjoun]

Hi all,

I will start by apologising in advance for asking a question that I’m sure has been asked a thousand times before.

My grandmother, who died before I was born, was born in 1917 in Toronto and lived in Canada until she was 5 years old before the family relocated back to Ireland.

My father was born in 1956 in Ireland.
I was born 1990 also in Ireland.

I am presuming that my father is untitled to Canadian citizenship, but am wondering whether I am too? What I have read so far online has left me rather confused. I am aware that the law has changed and there is now a first generation limit on citizenship by descent but I am confused by the dates and whether this applied retroactively or not. Any help would be great.

Many thanks,

R

You are most probably not a Canadian citizen and I wouldn't advise to pursue it but as CIC Say on their website, the only real way to know for sure if you have Canadian citizenship is to apply for a proof of citizenship.

Your case is a complex one and the reason given by everyone else is not the reason why you are not eligible for citizenship. You were born in 1990 so in fact you would have been Canadian if your father was entitled to Canadian citizenship at the time of your birth. The limit to one generation by descent doesn't apply to you.

However, you really need to determine the status of your grandmother and that of your father. Your father was born in 1956 outside of canada, so unless he was registered before 2004 in the Canadian embassy as a child of a Canadian, then he wouldn't be Canadian at the time of your birth.

Your grandmother would have been Canadian at the time of birth of your father only if she was a British subject in 1947.

The actual laws are still a bit more complex then what I explained here, but in brief, there are certain conditions that need to have met by your grandmother and father in order for you to be a canadian citizenship.

 

[Janjoun]

Sorry, but zardoz is correct. You're not eligible because you are second generation born abroad. Even though your father's citizenship is retroactive to his birth and you were born in a year before the generation limit was put in effect, the particular paragraph in the legislation that gave your father his citizenship is included in the section that enacts the first generational limit.

This holds true if his father was never registered. If he was registered, he could have passed the citizenship. (I guess he wasnt)

 

[hawk39]

This holds true if his father was never registered. If he was registered, he could have passed the citizenship. (I guess he wasnt)

Canadian women before 1977 could not pass down citizenship to their child unless the child was born out of wedlock. So unless the father was born out of wedlock, he would not have been eligible to register. Delayed registration under 3(1)(e) would only be possible if the father was eligible under the original 1947 legislation that said only Canadian men could pass on citizenship to their children; but because only his mother was Canadian, he was not eligible to register when he was born in 1956, or later during the delayed registration period. If this is the case, the OP's father became a citizen under 3(1)(g) in 2009 (only if his mother did not lose her British Subject status before 1947 or Canadian citizenship before his birth in 1956), but children born abroad to such citizens are ineligible because of the first generation limit [section 3(3)] within the same legislation.

 

[Janjoun]

only if his mother did not formally renounce her British Subject status before 1947.

This amendment was introduced in 2015. Prior to that, she was required to have been a British subject in 1947. So if this was not applicable, then his grandmother would have acquired her citizenship in 2015 laws, subsequent to the law introducing the first generation limitation. I.e. also not eligible.

Anyway in brief, for the OP to be Canadian, there are many conditions unlikely to have been met.

 

[hawk39]

This amendment was introduced in 2015. Prior to that, she was required to have been a British subject in 1947. So if this was not applicable, then his grandmother would have acquired her citizenship in 2015 laws, subsequent to the law introducing the first generation limitation. I.e. also not eligible.

Anyway in brief, for the OP to be Canadian, there are many conditions unlikely to have been met.

Corrected, thanks. I meant to say loss in general, but was thinking of the different ways of loss as I was typing and that was one of a few ways that resulted in loss of status.

The only condition that currently would make the OP eligible for citizenship by descent is if the father was born while the grandmother was a Crown servant in service to Canada. Unless the OP knows otherwise and seeing that she moved to Ireland as a 5-year old and never returned to Canada, the chance of this condition being met is practically non-existent. Any other conditions do not even apply to the OP.