Hi there. My great grandparents were working in Canada (they were US citizens) and while they were working in Saskatchewan my grandma was born in 1918. They never filed for Canadian citizenship for her and after sometime they moved back to America. Can I apply for Canadian citizenship from my grandmother being born there prior to 1947?
Grandma born in Canada
- Thread starter Elizabetganlass
- Start date
EDIT: I believe you have a claim. But I could be wrong, so check this page out from the Government of Canada: Am I a Canadian?
No, you are too far removed if your mother never claimed citizenship. Your mother would have needed to claim citizenship before you were born. Your grandmother can apply for her Canadian citizenship. Your mother is eligible.
I’m not 100% sure but I’d say not really. She should have Canadian citizenship if she was born in the country. If I recall correctly In circa 2009, they made a few changes to the Citizenship Act and eliminated inheritance of Canadian citizenship to the second generation of children that were born outside of the country.
How old are you. Your mother can apply but you are still not eligble because she didn’t apply for her citizenship before you were born.
If you are considering moving to Canada, you still have an option. Your mother may still apply for confirmation (takes a few months in total) and they can sponsor you to immigrate here.
If the mother is married or in a common law relationship (or has any relatives in Canada), this will not be possible.
I'm not seeing an easy path for you to benefit from your mother's situation. It would need to work like this:
- She would need to apply for citizenship and receive confirmation.
- She would then need to move to Canada to qualify to sponsor you for permanent residency (Technically Canadian citizens can sponsor while outside of Canada provided they can prove they will move to Canada once the application has been approved. However given your mother has never lived here, that will be impossible to demonstrate and she will need to make the move to Canada to sponsor you successfully.)
- Additionally, she would need to be single to qualify (no living spouse or common law partner) and also have no family members in Canada
- She would also need to meet the minimum income requirements to qualify to sponsor you (guessing she is retired and would have no plans to work in Canada so that would probably be challenging)
- Processing time for your PR application would be around 2 years
- You would then need to live another 3 years in Canada to qualify for citizenship
Probably more realistic to explore options to immigrate on your own through an economic immigration stream. Express Entry is most likely out of the question due to your age. You'll want to look at the PNP programs.
