Child has Canadian citizenship, spouse does not

[fuqikuaile]

I am a Canadian who has been living in China for three years and have married a Chinese citizen. My wife is going to be giving birth in a few months. I have been told by the embassy that making the baby a citizen of Canada is not too difficult. However, our plan is to stay in China for another four years and then move to Canada. Given we do not plan to leave for four years, when should I begin the process of sponsoring my spouse? Is this easier to do if the child is already Canadian? Any helpful advice is welcome, especially from those who have encountered a similar situation. Thanks.

 

[Fencesitter]

I'm not sure if it will make things easier if your child is a citizen, but for sure it should make it a lot easier to prove that you are in a genuine relationship. Your situation is similar to mine, except my son is already a citizen. My wife is Chinese. I am a citizen. Would they want to break up the family? I think not.

If you plan to leave in 4 years, I'd recommend starting the process at least 1 year before you are ready to leave. During the next 3 years, continue to gather as much evidence as you can to help prove you are in a genuine relationship (with a child together, the visa officer is not going to question this...but still...it makes the application that much stronger).

FS

 

[Robyn]

I just had twins on Thursday. We live in Guangzhou, I am Canadian sponsoring my husband who is nigerian. For your baby to get citizenship is a matter of going to the embassy, filling out forms and paying the fee.
I suggest
1. Print out the forms you need from the cic web site and start to fill them out before the baby comes
You will need the form for a certificate of citizenship
Also if you want a canadian passport for them then those forms as well
2. When your baby is born apply for the birth certificate
3. Fill in the missing info from your forms and get the baby required photos and go to submit at embassy
4. They say it takes the certificate up to 9 months but my friend got hers in 3

I am still in the hospital, when the babies are released we will go directly to get their photos and to the embassy because we are both foreigners we need to do this process and then apply for their Chinese
Visa and we are only given 30 days for this.

Hope this helps, good luck