Is my wife's son eligible for Citizenship?

[Longhorn]

Hi, I wonder if someone could answer this question: Can I apply for a citizenship certificate for my wife's son from a previous relationship if he's 12 years old and was born outside of Canada in 1999? I'm the Canadian citizen, my wife is not, her son Kevin is not my natural son, I met and married my wife when Kevin was a 3 year-old. Is he eligible for citizenship?

If not what are the alternatives for him to come to Canada and live here?

Thanks for your responses.

 

[Leon]

No, he is not eligible for citzenship because you are not his biological father. Did you sponsor your wife for PR already? If not, you can sponsor her and her son at the same time. Note that as a minor child, the mother either needs to prove that she has full custody or if she doesn't, the biological father must allow their immigration.

After living in Canada for 3 years as PR's, your wife can apply for Canadian citizenship and then she can apply for him too.

 

[Longhorn]

No, he is not eligible for citzenship because you are not his biological father. Did you sponsor your wife for PR already? If not, you can sponsor her and her son at the same time. Note that as a minor child, the mother either needs to prove that she has full custody or if she doesn't, the biological father must allow their immigration.

After living in Canada for 3 years as PR's, your wife can apply for Canadian citizenship and then she can apply for him too.

thanks Leon. what if the mother never had contact with her son's biological father (he never showed up after she became pregnant)? what kind of documents does she need to prove custody? the "father" did not even acknowledge the child and my wife never pursued legal action so she decided to raise the child by herself until we got married.

Also, how should the child be listed in the forms the sponsor fills out: "stepson" or just plain "son"?

thanks to anyone who can help.

 

[Leon]

thanks Leon. what if the mother never had contact with her son's biological father (he never showed up after she became pregnant)? what kind of documents does she need to prove custody? the "father" did not even acknowledge the child and my wife never pursued legal action so she decided to raise the child by herself until we got married.

Also, how should the child be listed in the forms the sponsor fills out: "stepson" or just plain "son"?

thanks to anyone who can help.

If the biological father is not on the birth certificate, I guess you don't need any paperwork. It would be the same as father unknown then. If he is on the birth certificate, you would need some papers from some court stating that she has full custody. Ask a lawyer where you live how to get that.

You would list him as your stepson.

 

[Longhorn]

If the biological father is not on the birth certificate, I guess you don't need any paperwork. It would be the same as father unknown then. If he is on the birth certificate, you would need some papers from some court stating that she has full custody. Ask a lawyer where you live how to get that.

You would list him as your stepson.

Thanks again, Leon, you're awesome!!

By the way, my wife's son biological father skipped town when my now-wife got pregnant so he never even knew the boy, in consequence his name does not even appear on his birth certificate. In fact, my wife and I went through a legal procedure called "paternal recognition" whereby the child acquired my last name by means of an act of attorney. I wonder if that'd be sufficient to show that my wife and myself have the child's custody?

Thank you very much for your kind help!

 

[OhCanadiana]

When you sponsor your wife (assuming you are intending to live in Canada), you will just need to list her son as her dependent on the IMM0008 form. You can explain the history, custody arrangements, and paternal recognition on several of the forms as part of the development of your relationship in the application forms and also where they ask about custody arrangements.

In your answers, I would refer to him like you normally would (son vs stepson). It will be clear when you list him as a dependent of hers that you are looking to sponsor him (and also from the history of paternal recognition, etc).

Where are you located now, and what are your wife and Kevin's nationalities? You can either apply inland or outland (outland is usually faster - the application forms are available at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/fc.asp).

 

[Longhorn]

Thanks OhCanadiana & Leon!!

you guys rock! What you tell me makes a lot of sense, I was just under the impression that since we're married and I hold Canadian citizenship i could just easily apply for Kevin's citizenship, but now it's clear because I'm not his biological dad.

anyways, OhCanadiana, do you happen to know if the sponsor's forms allow you to specify that my wife's son is not my natural child? or do I have to lay out the whole story on a sheet (or sheets!) of paper so that it is clear to the immigration officer that we don't qualify for my son's automatic citizenship? by the way, my wife and son live in Panama and i just moved back to Canada and start my wife's PR process.

Again, thanks to both of you.

 

[Leon]

Unfortunately, Panama applications go through Guatemala which has a fairly long processing time, 25 months for 80% of applications, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/fc-spouses.asp#west and that is after the 3 months processing time by Mississauga sponsor approval.

Is there a way for them to join you in Canada as visitors? If they can, you can apply for your wife inland and the boy comes as a part of the package. Inland processing time is also long, 11 months for first stage approval and 8 for the rest but you could be together. Another option is that you return to them in Panama and sponsor them from the outside. You would need to show intent to move to Canada when they get their PR. Intent can be something like having a job offer, having been accepted to college, having arranged housing or at the very least some statements from relatives and friends saying they know of your plans and are ready to support you, let you live in the basement etc.

I am not sure what kind of legal process "paternal recognition" but did you legally adopt him or did you somehow state that you are his biological father? If he was adopted, you may be able to apply for his citizenship directly, see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/adoption/apply-who-cit.asp but if you somehow said that you are his biological father and then attempt to apply for his citizenship, if they ask for a DNA test, they will find out that you are not and you will be in trouble for telling them that you are.

In any case, even if you could apply for his citizenship directly, you would still have to sponsor your wife.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Thanks OhCanadiana & Leon!!

you guys rock! What you tell me makes a lot of sense, I was just under the impression that since we're married and I hold Canadian citizenship i could just easily apply for Kevin's citizenship, but now it's clear because I'm not his biological dad.

Not unless you adopted him (as Leon just mentioned too).

anyways, OhCanadiana, do you happen to know if the sponsor's forms allow you to specify that my wife's son is not my natural child? or do I have to lay out the whole story on a sheet (or sheets!) of paper so that it is clear to the immigration officer that we don't qualify for my son's automatic citizenship? by the way, my wife and son live in Panama and i just moved back to Canada and start my wife's PR process.

Again, thanks to both of you.

The answer is a bit of a combination:

On form IMM0008 you will need to list who you are sponsoring and her dependents for immigration purposes. You would list Kevin as your wife's dependent (since he isn't a Canadian citizen) which means he didn't get Canadian citizenship through you.

Also, there will be questions on how your relationship developed and custody for Kevin so you can address the rest of the story in those sections. For example, Kevin taking your last name shows that your relationship progressed to the point where you were all three comfortable doing that which you could tell as part of the larger story of your relationship.

What is your goal re moving back to Canada? You can either apply inland or outland (as a Canadian citizen you have the right to sponsor them whether you are in Canada or not, as long as you intend to move back to Canada when they get their PR cards) so we can help you figure this out if you are comfortable sharing a few more details on your goals, whether they are Panamanian citizens, and whether your wife works (and, if so, whether she could not work for a year or so in Canada).

 

[Longhorn]

...

I am not sure what kind of legal process "paternal recognition" but did you legally adopt him or did you somehow state that you are his biological father? If he was adopted, you may be able to apply for his citizenship directly, ... but if you somehow said that you are his biological father and then attempt to apply for his citizenship, if they ask for a DNA test, they will find out that you are not and you will be in trouble for telling them that you are.

ok Leon, to be honest I'm not sure whether the "paternal recognition" document amounts to the equivalent of an adoption, I need to talk to an attorney about this. But it's all downing on me that I'm in for a bit of a rough ride, so I'm starting do some homework prior to submitting anything lest we end up messing it up.

Not unless you adopted him (as Leon just mentioned too).

...

Also, there will be questions on how your relationship developed and custody for Kevin so you can address the rest of the story in those sections. For example, Kevin taking your last name shows that your relationship progressed to the point where you were all three comfortable doing that which you could tell as part of the larger story of your relationship.

What is your goal re moving back to Canada? You can either apply inland or outland (as a Canadian citizen you have the right to sponsor them whether you are in Canada or not, as long as you intend to move back to Canada when they get their PR cards) so we can help you figure this out if you are comfortable sharing a few more details on your goals, whether they are Panamanian citizens, and whether your wife works (and, if so, whether she could not work for a year or so in Canada).

Thanks OhCanadiana, I realize that we'll have to make some tough decisions in regards the optimal avenue for going about the PR process, I wouldn't want to become separated from my family too long. I was hoping that through the citizenship solution I could have Kevin join me in Canada in the short term while my wife's PR got processed but I realize that we'll have to be a bit more patient than previously thought. I guess going the outland route will be speedier in terms of wait time, but it'll be rough from a family relationship perspective, though I can freely visit my family periodically while the application is ongoing.

I'll share more details as soon as we decide what to do with our application, but I know that our first step is to have a lawyer help us clarify our son's custody status, then obtain the necessary documentation to prove such and fill out the immigration forms. Hopefully we should be ready to go with the application by year's end.

Again, I appreciate the great advice you've given us. I'll post here again when I get the information on the custody clarified.

 

[Leon]

Maybe you could adopt him and then apply for his citizenship but I think you should discuss this with a lawyer first to figure out your options.

 

[OhCanadiana]

Thanks OhCanadiana, I realize that we'll have to make some tough decisions in regards the optimal avenue for going about the PR process, I wouldn't want to become separated from my family too long. I was hoping that through the citizenship solution I could have Kevin join me in Canada in the short term while my wife's PR got processed but I realize that we'll have to be a bit more patient than previously thought. I guess going the outland route will be speedier in terms of wait time, but it'll be rough from a family relationship perspective, though I can freely visit my family periodically while the application is ongoing.

I'll share more details as soon as we decide what to do with our application, but I know that our first step is to have a lawyer help us clarify our son's custody status, then obtain the necessary documentation to prove such and fill out the immigration forms. Hopefully we should be ready to go with the application by year's end.

Again, I appreciate the great advice you've given us. I'll post here again when I get the information on the custody clarified.

Good luck as you sort out the custody/adoption situation

You can use the time in parallel to start writing out answers to the various questions and pulling together the evidence you'll need to use either way.

 

[Longhorn]

Leon, OhCanadiana and all the other wonderful folks in this forum: I've spoken to an attorney about the situation of my stepson's custody (I dislike both words because I believe they are irrelevant for the reality of our situation/relationship) and he confirms that under panamanian jurisdiction, a so-called paternal recognition is a de facto assignment of custody to the party performing the recognition, in our case that would be me, the one who signed the document that resulted in the assignation of my last name to my wife's son, and by which act I became the legal representative and joint custodian of the child.

Now, I'm a bit apprehensive that such document would not be recognized by the Canadian government, or CIC for that matter, as representing sufficient legal evidence of the child's custody, so I'm at odds as to whether we should stay away from even mentioning the recognition of paternity document that I signed after I married my wife and just produce the original birth certificate where no mention of a father is made. I wonder if that would make CIC uneasy about the legal status of our son's custody? For us is clear though, the biological father never showed up and we can almost guarantee he never will, for many obvious reasons one of them being he'll be in for a lot of trouble financially speaking if my wife decided to press for alimony payments and so forth, but that's another story.

So, in short my question now is should we list our son as solely my wife's dependant without mentioning a previous legal document where an adoption-like document was signed? or should we get an additional document from the lawyer explicitly laying out the details as to why the kid's custody remains with both of us?

Confused, but I'm talking to an immigration lawyer here in Canada tomorrow to get a second opinion.

I'd appreciate your point of view or share your experiences.

Thanks.

 

[Leon]

I think both documents, his birth certificate showing father unknown and the one you did to assign him your last name will help prove that you and your wife have full custody of him. I do not see why you would have to leave anything out.

 

[OhCanadiana]

I agree with Leon - I think it makes the story of how you relationship evolved and the role you play in his life even stronger and wouldn't worry about including it. When you look at some of the questions in the application, they ask detailed questions on the evolution of your relationship and custody of any children so it would be natural to discuss this and say you have sole custody because of the document. Including a short opinion from the lawyer may help CIC fully understand the situation and help avoid any back-and-forth discussion (the Internet seems to indicate a paternal recognition document from Quebec is essentially an adoption so it will help ensure they take the document like it is intended from Panama's perspective).

BTW, I would refer to him as your son during the application (no need to use words you dislike that don't reflect the reality of your situation).

Leon, OhCanadiana and all the other wonderful folks in this forum: I've spoken to an attorney about the situation of my stepson's custody (I dislike both words because I believe they are irrelevant for the reality of our situation/relationship) and he confirms that under panamanian jurisdiction, a so-called paternal recognition is a de facto assignment of custody to the party performing the recognition, in our case that would be me, the one who signed the document that resulted in the assignation of my last name to my wife's son, and by which act I became the legal representative and joint custodian of the child.

Now, I'm a bit apprehensive that such document would not be recognized by the Canadian government, or CIC for that matter, as representing sufficient legal evidence of the child's custody, so I'm at odds as to whether we should stay away from even mentioning the recognition of paternity document that I signed after I married my wife and just produce the original birth certificate where no mention of a father is made. I wonder if that would make CIC uneasy about the legal status of our son's custody? For us is clear though, the biological father never showed up and we can almost guarantee he never will, for many obvious reasons one of them being he'll be in for a lot of trouble financially speaking if my wife decided to press for alimony payments and so forth, but that's another story.

So, in short my question now is should we list our son as solely my wife's dependant without mentioning a previous legal document where an adoption-like document was signed? or should we get an additional document from the lawyer explicitly laying out the details as to why the kid's custody remains with both of us?

Confused, but I'm talking to an immigration lawyer here in Canada tomorrow to get a second opinion.

I'd appreciate your point of view or share your experiences.

Thanks.