Canadian citizenship for a US citizen (minor)

[EE2Canada2020]

Hi,
This has been asked few times in the past. I am collecting all the answers and checking if something new has happened. My daughter was born in US when I was on H1B. I moved to Canada and now getting ready to apply for Canadian citizenship. Should I apply for Canadian citizenship for my US-born daughter (US citizen by birth) or let her be just US citizen? Here is are the pros and cons of applying for Canadian citizenship on top of the US citizenship:
* I know Dual citizenship is possible but is it worth it?
* Dual citizenship allows the kid to return to US and live/work there
* Dual citizenship prevents her from joining some super high level govt jobs in US (not worried about that!!)
* The kid will be liable for paying or filing US tax for life unless she chooses to renounce US citizenship
* Can the kid apply a Green Card for me if I (& she) choose to at a later stage (no interest as of now) even if she becomes a dual citizen
I just want to make an informed decision!

On one hand I personally don't feel good about half my family holding one passport and the other holding another passport (even though both US and Canada are friendly) but on the other hand I don;t want to reduce the possibilities for my kid when she grows up by not applying for Canadian citizenship now. May be delaying the Canadian citizenship for her might give me time to think, is that possible? I know I cannot predict the future but I am totally confused. Please share your opinion and knowledge.
Especially anyone with old enough kids in the same situation.

 

[armoured]

There are very few downsides to having a Canadian passport, and the process exceptionally easy for children who are PRs and have a Canadian citizen parent - no tests, no waiting period, etc. (Note, I don't know about process when you are applying for citizesnhip for yourself and for the child at the same time, but presume it doesn't change anything)

If anything, the US tax thing is the only significant downside of having dual citizenship - and that's not on the Canadian side.

 

[scylla]

Hi,
This has been asked few times in the past. I am collecting all the answers and checking if something new has happened. My daughter was born in US when I was on H1B. I moved to Canada and now getting ready to apply for Canadian citizenship. Should I apply for Canadian citizenship for my US-born daughter (US citizen by birth) or let her be just US citizen? Here is are the pros and cons of applying for Canadian citizenship on top of the US citizenship:
* I know Dual citizenship is possible but is it worth it?
* Dual citizenship allows the kid to return to US and live/work there
* Dual citizenship prevents her from joining some super high level govt jobs in US (not worried about that!!)
* The kid will be liable for paying or filing US tax for life unless she chooses to renounce US citizenship
* Can the kid apply a Green Card for me if I (& she) choose to at a later stage (no interest as of now) even if she becomes a dual citizen
I just want to make an informed decision!

On one hand I personally don't feel good about half my family holding one passport and the other holding another passport (even though both US and Canada are friendly) but on the other hand I don;t want to reduce the possibilities for my kid when she grows up by not applying for Canadian citizenship now. May be delaying the Canadian citizenship for her might give me time to think, is that possible? I know I cannot predict the future but I am totally confused. Please share your opinion and knowledge.
Especially anyone with old enough kids in the same situation.

Apply for Canadian citizenship. It's a no-brainer. I don't know why you would delay this.

Otherwise you have to sponsor her for PR and then continue to renew her PR status that every few years.

US citizenship is the one that is a PITA if you are not living there given the obligation to file taxes for life even if you are a non-resident.

 

[Vinami]

I think US and Canada have a tax treaty, so if you've paid taxes in one country, you will probably not pay or pay just a minimum amount of tax in another. Check it out for more detail.
During Covid, I read stories that families were unable to unite because of this citizenship issue. Remember when each country closed its own border and just allowed their own citizens enter? A lot of families with mixed citizenship (some Canadian, some US) were separated.

 

[EE2Canada2020]

Thanks @armoured @scylla . I was just being hyper-cautious since gaining citizenship of a country is a high impact event in life so did not want to sleepwalk into it. You bring up a good point that I had not considered - me having to sponsor her PR and renewing it every few years if I don't apply for her citizen. I guess I will go down the well travelled path of dual citizenship!

Apply for Canadian citizenship. It's a no-brainer. I don't know why you would delay this.

Otherwise you have to sponsor her for PR and then continue to renew her PR status that every few years.

US citizenship is the one that is a PITA if you are not living there given the obligation to file taxes for life even if you are a non-resident.

 

[EE2Canada2020]

I think US and Canada have a tax treaty, so if you've paid taxes in one country, you will probably not pay or pay just a minimum amount of tax in another. Check it out for more detail.
During Covid, I read stories that families were unable to unite because of this citizenship issue. Remember when each country closed its own border and just allowed their own citizens enter? A lot of families with mixed citizenship (some Canadian, some US) were separated.

Such big world events do trouble me but after some worrying I realize that there is no way to predict them or take any evasive action in advance, so just doing what I can/have to do now.

 

[armoured]

I think US and Canada have a tax treaty, so if you've paid taxes in one country, you will probably not pay or pay just a minimum amount of tax in another.

While that's true generally, it does not remove the requirement for US citizens to file taxes, which is a non-trivial exercise (read: complicated) and issues with not doing so are significant (read: penalties and hassles). And US citizens must file wherever in the world they are residing.

The reverse is not true: Canada does not require citizens or PRs to file/pay taxes if they do not owe taxes (or have taxable income). Therefore - for example - a Canadian who moves to eg Argentina and cuts most ties with Canada* no longer has any obligations on an ongoing basis.

So: it is not symmetrical, there are few downsides to being a Canadian citizen.

This is massively simplified of course.

*This is my shorthand way of saying 'no longer a tax resident.' It's more complicated than that - details - but too complicated a question to go into.

 

[armoured]

Such big world events do trouble me but after some worrying I realize that there is no way to predict them or take any evasive action in advance, so just doing what I can/have to do now.

The thing is, it's not just 'big world events.' A PR can lose that status, either by not living in Canada enough or for a limited number of other things like criminality. (And of course over age 22 can no longer be sponsored by parents)

Now criminality: I know almost all people would brush away this concern, but in a previous life I was exposed to a number of very, very sad cases of PRs who'd been convicted of a crime and were deported - some to countries they'd left as children and did not even know the language. They'd never got citizesnhip (or parents had never filed for them) and some didn't really even know they weren't citizens.

As another simple example: DUI can be considered serious criminality in some cases. And yep, the government can and will deport PRs in such cases - it may not happen often but it does happen.

There are other more prosaic reasons - I'm not trying to make this a scare story - just underlying that there are reasons to have it that may seem farfetched now, but do happen. On the other side: there are few negatives to having Canadian citizenship.

 

[EE2Canada2020]

The thing is, it's not just 'big world events.' A PR can lose that status, either by not living in Canada enough or for a limited number of other things like criminality. (And of course over age 22 can no longer be sponsored by parents)

Now criminality: I know almost all people would brush away this concern, but in a previous life I was exposed to a number of very, very sad cases of PRs who'd been convicted of a crime and were deported - some to countries they'd left as children and did not even know the language. They'd never got citizesnhip (or parents had never filed for them) and some didn't really even know they weren't citizens.

As another simple example: DUI can be considered serious criminality in some cases. And yep, the government can and will deport PRs in such cases - it may not happen often but it does happen.

There are other more prosaic reasons - I'm not trying to make this a scare story - just underlying that there are reasons to have it that may seem farfetched now, but do happen. On the other side: there are few negatives to having Canadian citizenship.

That is so true (losing PR for some reason)! Good point.
I did notice that you mentioned twice that 'there are downsides to Canadian citizenship', just curious which ones are you specifically referring to? You seem to have thought this through really well, so would be curious to know what were you alluding to?

 

[armoured]

That is so true (losing PR for some reason)! Good point.
I did notice that you mentioned twice that 'there are downsides to Canadian citizenship', just curious which ones are you specifically referring to? You seem to have thought this through really well, so would be curious to know what were you alluding to?

That's not what I wrote; I wrote 'few' downsides. Although to be honest, I can't think of any significant ones. So if you prefer to read as 'there are no significant downsides', or even no downsides, that's fine by me.

[I was probably just hedging verbally - I can't think of any downsides that I'd consider even remotely more than an inconvenience in some weird corner case, but I'm sure someone could come up with one. Like if you were a war criminal and came to Canada on your Canadian passport, Canada would want to try to prosecute. Although history would suggest very little chance govt would do so competently (evidence from abroad is a very difficult legal question in Canada for crimes committed abroad)]