Are my kids Canadian?

[Acbrands]

I guess my point about not being considered a “full” Canadian is that my citizenship is being diluted and viewed as “less than” sufficient to enjoy the right to pass my citizenship to my children like other Canadians. This is not about how easy it would be for my kids to BECOME Canadian...it is that I, a Canadian citizen, who meets all of the requirements to be a citizen, am not considered “Canadian enough.“ One of the most important aspects of being Canadian is that you get to share your heritage and nationality with your children... if I indeed am a “full” Canadian, It can certainly be said that not all Canadians are treated equal. Thanks for everyone’s comments. I will explore my options with an immigration attorney.

 

[amitdi]

You can use any self-made terms you want (full Canadian, quarter Canadian) but there is a flaw in your logic.

Say there is a Canadian woman (like your mother). She married a UK citizen (who was visiting Canada) and went on to live in UK. They have a son say George who is Canadian citizen (by descent). George continues to live in UK.

The rule states that George is Canadian citizen, but George's children (born in UK) wont be citizens.

You state that since George is a citizen, he should share the nationality with his children. In that case, his children will be citizens and George's entire family tree going forward will be citizens. Because the children have to share nationality with their children and their children. Even though they may continue to live and travel anywhere in the world and never enter Canada. Now, this may already be true for so many people around the world. Eventually (thanks to globalization), there will be a ton of Canadian citizens that have never had anything directly to do with Canada. Only through ancestral ties. Canada would have an obligation to protect them as citizens.

In order to avoid this issue, the sharing of nationality has to stop somewhere. Whether you agree its stopping at the right generation is another debate.

All the best for your meeting with the immigration attorney, hope you dont end up wasting a lot of money.

 

[zardoz]

I guess my point about not being considered a “full” Canadian is that my citizenship is being diluted and viewed as “less than” sufficient to enjoy the right to pass my citizenship to my children like other Canadians. This is not about how easy it would be for my kids to BECOME Canadian...it is that I, a Canadian citizen, who meets all of the requirements to be a citizen, am not considered “Canadian enough.“ One of the most important aspects of being Canadian is that you get to share your heritage and nationality with your children... if I indeed am a “full” Canadian, It can certainly be said that not all Canadians are treated equal. Thanks for everyone’s comments. I will explore my options with an immigration attorney.

Please let us know what the attorney says. If they say that there is a way to pass on Citizenship to your children, you probably need to find a new attorney .

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=365

In all seriousness, the official determination of their status would be by IRCC and the application for proof of citizenship.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/proof-citizenship.html

 

[YesCanadian]

I don't know what law says but I have a case for a friend:
he granted Canadian Citizenship after study in Canada through immigration process. After that he back to his original country to live and work there. He got two children outside of Canada. His kids are Canadian.

I think if you are Canadian, You have all rights to transfer your citizenship to them. It's rights not grants. I think you don't need to apply for citizenship for them because they are Canadian. It's better to ask a consultant to save your time and effort

 

[zardoz]

I don't know what law says but I have a case for a friend:
he granted Canadian Citizenship after study in Canada through immigration process. After that he back to his original country to live and work there. He got two children outside of Canada. His kids are Canadian.

I think if you are Canadian, You have all rights to transfer your citizenship to them. It's rights not grants. I think you don't need to apply for citizenship for them because they are Canadian. It's better to ask a consultant to save your time and effort

That's because "he granted Canadian Citizenship" rather than acquiring it by descent. These children are almost certainly not Canadian citizens.

 

[Acbrands]

I hate getting into a debate over this, but the example scenario you give re: George is not the same scenario I am in. My mother was very close to the US border when she went into labor with me. I was born outside of Canada purely because it was the nearest hospital when my mom went into labor. This was back in the 80's when you could travel pretty freely between Quebec and Vermont. The ambulance that took her to the US hospital had Quebec plates! After I was born, I returned to Canada to live with my mom for the first several years of my life - even attending several years of grade school. I obtained my Canadian Citizenship and my Canadian Passport in Canada. Despite being a Dual Citizen with the US today, I am by all accounts Canadian.

So, just because of my mother's emergency situation requiring her to go to a US hospital due to its proximity...my children are not Canadian? This seems wrong.

I understand and agree that if I had continued to live in the US immediately following my birth, never having claimed my citizenship and my children later in life would try to become Canadian on account that their grandmother was born in Canada...they would not be allowed. But this is not my situation. Again - no sense in debating this in a forum of public opinion. I will check with the proper authorities and retain legal council if necessary.

 

[itsmyid]

I hate getting into a debate over this, but the example scenario you give re: George is not the same scenario I am in. My mother was very close to the US border when she went into labor with me. I was born outside of Canada purely because it was the nearest hospital when my mom went into labor. This was back in the 80's when you could travel pretty freely between Quebec and Vermont. The ambulance that took her to the US hospital had Quebec plates! After I was born, I returned to Canada to live with my mom for the first several years of my life - even attending several years of grade school. I obtained my Canadian Citizenship and my Canadian Passport in Canada. Despite being a Dual Citizen with the US today, I am by all accounts Canadian.

So, just because of my mother's emergency situation requiring her to go to a US hospital due to its proximity...my children are not Canadian? This seems wrong.

I understand and agree that if I had continued to live in the US immediately following my birth, never having claimed my citizenship and my children later in life would try to become Canadian on account that their grandmother was born in Canada...they would not be allowed. But this is not my situation. Again - no sense in debating this in a forum of public opinion. I will check with the proper authorities and retain legal council if necessary.

I feel for you , I really do, but as many have experienced, the law doesn’t usually leave much room for unusual situations like that , there are numerous stories, including those from this forum, that it rarely ends well when fighting with IRCC - Someone from Thailand who became PR many years ago and applied for citizenship, despite meeting all the requirements, was refused after the interview, and he/she has been fighting with the help from lawyers since then ... I think that person made an update on his/her case a couple of months ago and can be found in this forum ... anyway, good luck on trying

 

[Avadava]

I hate getting into a debate over this, but the example scenario you give re: George is not the same scenario I am in. My mother was very close to the US border when she went into labor with me. I was born outside of Canada purely because it was the nearest hospital when my mom went into labor. This was back in the 80's when you could travel pretty freely between Quebec and Vermont. The ambulance that took her to the US hospital had Quebec plates! After I was born, I returned to Canada to live with my mom for the first several years of my life - even attending several years of grade school. I obtained my Canadian Citizenship and my Canadian Passport in Canada. Despite being a Dual Citizen with the US today, I am by all accounts Canadian.

So, just because of my mother's emergency situation requiring her to go to a US hospital due to its proximity...my children are not Canadian? This seems wrong.

I understand and agree that if I had continued to live in the US immediately following my birth, never having claimed my citizenship and my children later in life would try to become Canadian on account that their grandmother was born in Canada...they would not be allowed. But this is not my situation. Again - no sense in debating this in a forum of public opinion. I will check with the proper authorities and retain legal council if necessary.

I really don't understand where this is going. This debate is pointless. Whether we think that this is fair or not, it's not going to change the fact that this is the law that everyone needs to abide by. It applies to everyone without discrimination. I personally think it isn't fair and I am sorry you can't pass the citizenship to your children. But my own opinion is not going to change the fact that this law doesn't allow you to pass your CAD citizenship.

Lots of things aren't fair about how IRCC operates. For example, I am allowed to sponsor my parents (60+ years old) and my grandparents (85+ years old) to become permanent residents (with a stupid lottery thing) who will never be active members of the society at that age and will not contribute to the pension fund or pay taxes and who don't speak the language and have no interest moving to Canada. BUT am not allowed to sponsor my only brother who is 29 years old and would like to establish himself in Canada, to be a tax paying member of society, to get married and raise children here. I personally think this is not fair. But that doesn't change anything for me or for my brother.

 

[mumbai1985]

A sprinter who finished 4th can argue that he was only 0.04 seconds behind and he deserves a medal.

But rules are rules.

 

[canvis2006]

Tons of people around the world would rather go to USA than to Canada. Your kids are American and that's pretty much a developed country. I'd be more sympathetic if your kids were in some poor country like in Africa or something.
They have more opportunities in the USA, cheaper things, more value in money, more economic opportunities and better weather.
Enjoy life and don't waste time on these trivial things. Trust me, its better over there any day

 

[scylla]

I don't know what law says but I have a case for a friend:
he granted Canadian Citizenship after study in Canada through immigration process. After that he back to his original country to live and work there. He got two children outside of Canada. His kids are Canadian.

I think if you are Canadian, You have all rights to transfer your citizenship to them. It's rights not grants. I think you don't need to apply for citizenship for them because they are Canadian. It's better to ask a consultant to save your time and effort

This is a completely different scenario that doesn't apply to this situation and isn't relevant to this discussion. In the example you've given, that individual obtained citizenship through naturalization before his children were born. That makes his children citizens regardless of where they are born.

 

[scylla]

I really don't understand where this is going. This debate is pointless. Whether we think that this is fair or not, it's not going to change the fact that this is the law that everyone needs to abide by.

Agreed with this. It's a pointless debate. This has nothing to do with opinion. Rules are rules.

 

[mumbai1985]

Tons of people around the world would rather go to USA than to Canada. Your kids are American and that's pretty much a developed country. I'd be more sympathetic if your kids were in some poor country like in Africa or something.
They have more opportunities in the USA, cheaper things, more value in money, more economic opportunities and better weather.
Enjoy life and don't waste time on these trivial things. Trust me, its better over there any day

I think its not clear if OPs children are born in US. At least OP was born in US.

 

[screech339]

I really don't understand where this is going. This debate is pointless. Whether we think that this is fair or not, it's not going to change the fact that this is the law that everyone needs to abide by. It applies to everyone without discrimination. I personally think it isn't fair and I am sorry you can't pass the citizenship to your children. But my own opinion is not going to change the fact that this law doesn't allow you to pass your CAD citizenship.

Lots of things aren't fair about how IRCC operates. For example, I am allowed to sponsor my parents (60+ years old) and my grandparents (85+ years old) to become permanent residents (with a stupid lottery thing) who will never be active members of the society at that age and will not contribute to the pension fund or pay taxes and who don't speak the language and have no interest moving to Canada. BUT am not allowed to sponsor my only brother who is 29 years old and would like to establish himself in Canada, to be a tax paying member of society, to get married and raise children here. I personally think this is not fair. But that doesn't change anything for me or for my brother.

I agree with you 100% regarding the unfairness that you cannot sponsor your siblings for PR while you can only sponsor your parents / grandparents. Siblings can be very productive contributor to Canada. I rather scrap the PGP program completely for a sibling sponsorship program. But as you said, them the rules.

 

[itsmyid]

The analogy for parents/grandparents sponsorship is actually somewhat similar to your case: it’s currently done on a lottery basis, and will change to a first come first serve basis soon, but either way, someone could meet all the requirements and have made great contributions to Canada, or greater than many other applicants, yet still unable to sponsor his/her parents because failing to win the lottery or the delivery service was slightly slower than others, or the internet had a glitch and missed the chance to sign up before all the slots were taken ... that’s definitely not fair, but that’s how the rule works with IRCC