DNA testing

[toby]

I am curious about this possible step CIC can require. I am Canadian, my wife is Chinese (has permanent residency in Canada, though we live in China for now), and we have a young boy born in China.

One day we will be able to live permanently in Canada, and get a Canadian citizenship card and passport for the boy.

I understand that one of the hoops we may have to jump through is to undergo a DNA test to prove my paternity. Does anyone have any direct experience with being required to provide a DNA test?

Thanks.

 

[PMM]

Hi

I am curious about this possible step CIC can require. I am Canadian, my wife is Chinese (has permanent residency in Canada, though we live in China for now), and we have a young boy born in China.

One day we will be able to live permanently in Canada, and get a Canadian citizenship card and passport for the boy.

I understand that one of the hoops we may have to jump through is to undergo a DNA test to prove my paternity. Does anyone have any direct experience with being required to provide a DNA test?

Thanks.

1. Why don't you apply for proof of citizenship for the child now instead of waiting?
2. The only time that DNA tests are requested if there are doubts about the parentage of the child. It is very unusual for the testing to be requested.

 

[toby]

Hi


1. Why don't you apply for proof of citizenship for the child now instead of waiting?
2. The only time that DNA tests are requested if there are doubts about the parentage of the child. It is very unusual for the testing to be requested.

Hi PMM:

We must get on a bus and take a 2-hour bus ride to the nearest Canadian consulate, then a few hours there to apply for citizenship, then the bus ride back. It's a bit arduous for a baby, so we have been waiting until he can travel a bit better.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hi PMM:

We must get on a bus and take a 2-hour bus ride to the nearest Canadian consulate, then a few hours there to apply for citizenship, then the bus ride back. It's a bit arduous for a baby, so we have been waiting until he can travel a bit better.

It appears the the China offices are one of the very few where the baby, parents must show up in person.

 

[toby]

No one has any direct experience with DNA testing?

I guess it is true that Canada rarely requests one, then

 

[jo-macral]

I applied for citizenship for my little girl, via an application on the Canadian website. Only needed her birth certs, and proof of my citizenship & marriage. I submitted them at the embassy without the need of my child to be there.

This is Thailand, and not China so things may be slightly different, but no other questions were asked.

 

[toby]

I applied for citizenship for my little girl, via an application on the Canadian website. Only needed her birth certs, and proof of my citizenship & marriage. I submitted them at the embassy without the need of my child to be there.

This is Thailand, and not China so things may be slightly different, but no other questions were asked.

Thanks for the information.

 

[jo-macral]

Oh. They also needed two photos of my daughter, with the photo lab stamp on the back & dated. The information in Thai needed to be translated, but do NOT provide a notarized copy of the original (our mistake the first time), even though the website says to do this. They will not accept it (at least in Bangkok). You must bring the original documents with you, and they will verify them for authenticity & make copies at the embassy themselves, and will return them to you before you go.

Good luck. The entire process is pretty painless, outside of us needing an extra trip to get the original documents.

 

[salivatingwolf]

I live over 300 km from the nearest consulate. The worst is that they don't open in afternoon and that's why I hadn't applied citizenship for my kids for over a decade until this month. I got up at 6, took the first coach and got there at 11:30. (They closes at 12:00, lucky there was no traffic jam and the bus was running well.)
Don't worry Toby! If all genuine documents are available, they will not bother to have your DNA test.

 

[toby]

Thanks to all for the feedback.

Does the DNA test require taking blood from the infant, or just saliva?

Do you do the test at the embassy, or must you go elsewhere to an approved lab, and take the test in the presence of an embassy official?
If the latter, this will probably mean ANOTHER trip to the big city on a different date.

What is the approximate cost of the test? I know this will vary from place to place, but a ballpark cost would be helpful.

As a general comment, I'm not worried about the DNA test as much as I bridle at the arbitrary power CIC has to make us jump through hoops, based on nothing more than suspicion. I say this because I have heard of people required to do a DNA test simply because a bureaucrat in a distant city, looking at legitimate birth certificates etc., chose to require a test.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Thanks to all for the feedback.

Does the DNA test require taking blood from the infant, or just saliva?

Do you do the test at the embassy, or must you go elsewhere to an approved lab, and take the test in the presence of an embassy official?
If the latter, this will probably mean ANOTHER trip to the big city on a different date.

What is the approximate cost of the test? I know this will vary from place to place, but a ballpark cost would be helpful.

As a general comment, I'm not worried about the DNA test as much as I bridle at the arbitrary power CIC has to make us jump through hoops, based on nothing more than suspicion. I say this because I have heard of people required to do a DNA test simply because a bureaucrat in a distant city, looking at legitimate birth certificates etc., chose to require a test.

1. See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op01-eng.pdf and query DNA testing.
2. They make you jump through hoops because there is so much cheating going on in the Immigration process. Go to http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/irb/index.html and search DNA.

 

[toby]

Yes, after reading a few cases, I can see that there is indeed a lot of cheating.

Why can't people just be honest?

The irony is that friends back in Canada wonder why I want to return to one of the most over-taxed countries in the world?

 

[jo-macral]

Tell your friends to leave the country for several years, then ask that same question again.

Those taxes are put to good use, and the income tax is actually not that high. My salary in Thailand is taxed at the same level as back in Canada..

 

[toby]

Tell your friends to leave the country for several years, then ask that same question again.

Those taxes are put to good use, and the income tax is actually not that high. My salary in Thailand is taxed at the same level as back in Canada..

That's a good point: leave, then re-evaluate the country from afar. I am willing to return after almost 10 years abroad.

And I heard from someone else who lived in Thailand for years that the cost of living is higher than in Canada -- if you are insistent on foreign luxuries like good cheese and wine.

However, I can't quite agree that all the taxes that Canada collects are put to good use. I wince to think of the unnecessary expenses incurred by foreign embassies and bloated, inefficient bureaucracies in Canada. Someone whose judgment I trust says that all the pain and suffering to put Canada's finances back in order during the 1990's has been for nothing. He says that the country is routinely running deficits, not surpluses again, so that the national debt is now growing toward unsustainable levels -- again.

What a shame. I got a lot of pleasure bragging to my American ex-pat friends that Canada was much more fiscally sensible than the USA, but now it seems I will have to retract.

 

[jo-macral]

That is probably true, however the taxes are at least put to good use for social and medical benefits. Here in Thailand, I've been paying for years, and not a single tax dollar (or baht) goes to help anybody except those who pocket it.

While here, I've seen so many tourists and expats moaning and groaning about their home countries, but soon realize it's really not that bad once you've been abroad for several years.