Finding out if already a naturalized citizen?

[ilikesushi]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to complete the Application for a Search of Citizenship Records, but I don't know my "Date of Entry into Canada".

I was born in 1989 in the US to US citizens, but my maternal grandparents (now deceased) were Canadian (my mother was born in 1965 in the US) and from what I was told, were my legal guardians for the first few years of my life. I'm very much interested in calling Canada home and am prepared to immigrate from scratch, but before I do that, I figured I might as well find out if perhaps my grandparents had me naturalized as a Canadian citizen as a baby.

So what should I enter for the "Date of Entry into Canada"? Can I simply write "unknown"?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ilikesushi]

Also, I don't know if it matters, but my grandmother was born in Canada in 1930.

 

[links18]

Did your grandparents officially adopt you? Did you live with them in Canada or the US?

 

[ilikesushi]

Hi Links,

I'm honestly not sure if they formally adopted me or not. I do know that at the time, they were living in the US, though there was a lot of back and forth travel over the border.

 

[alphazip]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to complete the Application for a Search of Citizenship Records, but I don't know my "Date of Entry into Canada".

I was born in 1989 in the US to US citizens, but my maternal grandparents (now deceased) were Canadian (my mother was born in 1965 in the US) and from what I was told, were my legal guardians for the first few years of my life. I'm very much interested in calling Canada home and am prepared to immigrate from scratch, but before I do that, I figured I might as well find out if perhaps my grandparents had me naturalized as a Canadian citizen as a baby.

So what should I enter for the "Date of Entry into Canada"? Can I simply write "unknown"?

Thanks in advance!

Since you say that your grandparents were your legal guardians for the "first few years," I would suggest entering "about 1989" as the date of entry into Canada.

However, before sending in the application, I'd examine the possibility of citizenship by descent in greater detail. If you're willing to supply more information, what I'm wondering about are the circumstances of your mother's birth in the USA, when your grandparents were living (at least when you were born) in Canada. In other words, did your grandparents move to the United States for a while, then return to Canada to live? Did your mother ever live in Canada? It would seem that if your mother's parents only thought they would be living in the United Stares temporarily, they would register your mother as a Canadian when she was born. Was this done?

If your mother was a Canadian citizen when you were born, then you would be a Canadian citizen by descent.

 

[alphazip]

In reading something the OP wrote just before my previous post, it appears that he was living as an infant with his Canadian-citizen (assuming they were still Canadian, and hadn't taken out U.S. citizenship before 1977) grandparents, not in Canada, but in the United States! In that case, there would have been no way they could have had him naturalized as a Canadian citizen. What is key is whether they registered their daughter as a Canadian. If they did, the OP is a Canadian now; if not, he is not. In either case, though, the OP's mother is a Canadian citizen, either from birth or as of 2009.

 

[links18]

Hi Links,

I'm honestly not sure if they formally adopted me or not. I do know that at the time, they were living in the US, though there was a lot of back and forth travel over the border.

Did your grandparents maintain a residence in Canada? Did they work in the US? You say they were "living" in the US--but that is a subjective thing. Some Canadian snowbirds stay in the US for a good chunk of the year, but are still considered Canadian residents. Just trying to help figure out if there would have been any practical reason for them to register your mom as Canadian or formally adopt you in Canada.