Am I a Citizen

[joe903267]

I have no clue if I am a citizen of Canada or not so can anyone help me?

My grandfather was born in Ontario in 1941 to a Canadian mother and an immigrant father. They left Canada in 1946 to come to the USA. My grandmother who was a US Citizen gave birth to my mother in Nov. 1967 in the USA. I was born in 1993. Was my mother a Canadian at my time of birth since she was born to a Canadian Citizen. Am I a Canadian citizen since I was born before the 2009 law?

 

[Ponga]

Hi,

This thread may be helpful for you:
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/child-born-to-a-canadian-citizen-outside-canada-t61657.0.html

Your grandfather sounds like an amazing man, especially since he gave birth to your mother. :-\

*edit* I see that you've corrected your grandfather's achievement.

Hopefully, you'll find out that you are in fact dual citizen!

 

[joe903267]

Where in the thread would it be helpful to me? I am wondering if I can claim citizenship since I was born before the 2009 cutoff.
Here's what it says on the website" The first generation limit took effect on April 17, 2009. Any person who was a citizen immediately prior to that date remained a citizen on April 17, 2009." Since my mother was born to a Canadian citizen wouldn't that make her a citizen. Since i was born before the 2009 cutoff would that make me a citizen too?

 

[user828]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules/tool_04.asp

I kinda went through the tool with your limited details



Based on the information you provided, we are not able to assess your citizenship status at this time.

If you were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent who has always been a Canadian citizen, you are likely a citizen under the new law. If, however, you were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent who became a citizen under the changes to citizenship law that came into force on April 17, 2009, you may not be Canadian.

People who were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent, who are not already citizens or who lost their citizenship in the past, and who were born in the second or next generation abroad will not become citizens under the new law.

Note that any person who was a Canadian citizen immediately before the new citizenship law came into force on April 17, 2009, would not have lost their citizenship as a result of these changes to the law.

 

[Ponga]

Where in the thread would it be helpful to me? I am wondering if I can claim citizenship since I was born before the 2009 cutoff.
Here's what it says on the website" The first generation limit took effect on April 17, 2009. Any person who was a citizen immediately prior to that date remained a citizen on April 17, 2009." Since my mother was born to a Canadian citizen wouldn't that make her a citizen. Since i was born before the 2009 cutoff would that make me a citizen too?

Gee...When I found a thread labeled: `Child born to a Canadian Citizen outside Canada', with 25 pages of posts, I thought it might be helpful, considering you are [were] a child born to a Canadian citizen outside Canada!!!!

Sorry for not digging through all 25 pages looking for key words that would apply to your question.

 

[J.M.]

Honestly it will come down to being able to prove (Usually by birth certificate) that your mother is indeed a Canadian. If you can prove that, then more than likely, you too are a Canadian citizen though you would be a second generation Canadian citizen via lineage. To prove you are a Canadian, your birth certificate will have to have your mother's name on it, and her birth certificate would have to have her father's name on it, and you would have to have his birth certificate which shows he was indeed born in Canada.

I cannot guarantee that you will be considered a Canadian, but if you are, the birth certificates/records need to be shown as proof.

Use this tool to get a basic idea of if you might be: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules/

 

[joe903267]

J.M thanks for the input. Thats what I was kind of thinking. Do you think it will help substantially?

 

[joe903267]

Gee...When I found a thread labeled: `Child born to a Canadian Citizen outside Canada', with 25 pages of posts, I thought it might be helpful, considering you are [were] a child born to a Canadian citizen outside Canada!!!!

Sorry for not digging through all 25 pages looking for key words that would apply to your question.

Well there were all different posts people were making, some saying that you are or you aren't

 

[J.M.]

J.M thanks for the input. Thats what I was kind of thinking. Do you think it will help substantially?

Well, based on the information you provided, I also attempted to utilize the assessment tool and this was the result:

Based on the information you provided, we are not able to assess your citizenship status at this time.

If you were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent who has always been a Canadian citizen, you are likely a citizen under the new law. If, however, you were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent who became a citizen under the changes to citizenship law that came into force on April 17, 2009, you may not be Canadian.

People who were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent, who are not already citizens or who lost their citizenship in the past, and who were born in the second or next generation abroad will not become citizens under the new law.

Note that any person who was a Canadian citizen immediately before the new citizenship law came into force on April 17, 2009, would not have lost their citizenship as a result of these changes to the law.

The part in bold is what concerns me. Upon doing some amateur research (I am not a lawyer and it is possible I may misinterpret the information I come across), it may come down to your birthdate:

Every person born outside Canada after 15 February 1977, who has a Canadian parent at the time of birth, is automatically a Canadian citizen by descent. Every such person whose Canadian parent or parents were also not born in Canada and obtained their citizenship at birth by descent (second generation born abroad) must have successfully applied to maintain their Canadian citizenship before their 28th birthday, that is, if their 28th birthday took place before 17 April 2009. People falling into that category who did not take steps to maintain their citizenship lost their citizenship on that birthday. With Bill C-37[10] coming into effect on 17 April 2009, there is no longer a requirement or any allowance to apply to maintain citizenship.

So, if you turned 28 before April 17, 2009, you would not be a citizen. Basically, one would need to understand the different immigration acts and their subsequent reforms in order to determine if A, your mother was and stayed a Canadian citizen, and B, if you also were and still are a Canadian citizen.

 

[J.M.]

The other thing that concerns me is this:

Canadian nationality law was substantially revised again on 15 February 1977, when the new "Citizenship Act" came into force. From that date, multiple citizenship became legal. However, those who had lost Canadian citizenship before that date did not automatically have it restored until 17 April 2009, when Bill C-37 became law.[5] The 2009 act, the most recent major change to laws governing Canadian citizenship, limited the issuance of citizenship to children born outside Canada to Canadian ancestors (jus sanguinis) to one generation abroad.[6]

As well as this:

Loss of Canadian citizenship generally occurred in the following cases:

-naturalization outside Canada
-in the case of a minor, naturalization of a parent
-service in foreign armed forces
-naturalized Canadians who lived outside Canada for 10 years and did not file a declaration of retention
-where a Canadian had acquired that status by descent from a Canadian parent, and who was either not lawfully admitted to Canada for permanent residence on the commencement of the Act or was born outside Canada afterwards, loss of citizenship could occur on the person's 22nd birthday unless the person had filed a declaration of retention between their 21st and 22nd birthday and renounced any previous nationality they possessed.

Although Canada restricted dual citizenship between 1947 and 1977, there were some situations where Canadians could nevertheless legally possess another citizenship. For example, migrants becoming Canadian citizens were not asked to formally prove that they had ceased to hold the nationality of their former country. Similarly children born in Canada to non-Canadian parents were not under any obligation to renounce a foreign citizenship they had acquired by descent. Holding a foreign passport did not in itself cause loss of Canadian citizenship.

Being that your mother was born in 1967, dual/multiple citizenship was prohibited during that timeframe, and she would have needed to file for retention and also renounce her U.S. citizenship. So, depending on how the act reads, she would have "lost" her citizenship from 1967 until 2009 when it was restored. I may be misinterpreting that part, but if that is the case, you would not be a citizen.

It seems you have a complex case which requires an understanding of the applications of each Immigration Act and their nuances.

My research came from these sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Citizenship_Act_1946
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/rules_2009.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_nationality_law#Canadian_citizenship_by_descent

 

[joe903267]

Ohh man if that's the case then ill be a little bummed.

 

[Ponga]

Excellent research J.M.

+1 for you!

 

[Ponga]

Ohh man if that's the case then ill be a little bummed.

Understandably!