I'm a Canadian citizen and my wife is an Indian Citizen. If my kid is born in India does it become a Canadian or Indian citizen ? In case the we choose the Indian citizenship for the kid, can the kid choose it's citizenship (either Indian or Canadian) at the age of 18 ?
Kid's Citizenship Question
- Thread starter prak11
- Start date
prak11 said:
You don't have to choose Canadian citizenship. The child will be Canadian from birth unless and until, as an adult, he/she renounces her citizenship to Canadian authorities. As for the situation with Indian citizenship, your child will be an Indian citizen at birth, because one of his/her parents is an Indian citizen. However, since India does not permit dual citizenship, if the Indian government learns that your child has asserted his/her Canadian citizenship (such as by acquiring a Canadian passport), then the child will lose his/her Indian citizenship.
If I apply for Indian Passport for the kid I will have to declare the Kid as an Indian Citizen. Will it have any effect on his Canadian citizenship status ? Is he still a Canadian Citizen ?
If I apply for Canadian Passport for the kid I will have to declare the Kid as a Canadian Citizen. Does it mean he is no longer an Indian Citizen?
Will the kid get a chance to choose his choice of citizenship after he becomes an adult (probably at the age of 18) ?
If I apply for Canadian Passport for the kid I will have to declare the Kid as a Canadian Citizen. Does it mean he is no longer an Indian Citizen?
Will the kid get a chance to choose his choice of citizenship after he becomes an adult (probably at the age of 18) ?
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Before we get to the actual question:
Are you (prak11):
- born in Canada or
- a naturalized Canadian?
Because only in those cases your kid has Canadian citizenship.
If you yourself were born outside Canada and received your Canadian citizenship because one of your parents were Canadian, then your kid is NOT Canadian due to the 2009 change in citizenship rules.
Again, as long as you were born in Canada or you went through the naturalization process (test and oath and all), you are safe.
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Now that that is settled, the other question:
The only thing I know is that when you apply for an Indian passport, your kid doesn't lose Canadian citizenship. I don't know anything about Indian citizenship law, though. So you'd have to listen to others when it comes to the question if and how your kid might lose its Indian citizenship.
Are you (prak11):
- born in Canada or
- a naturalized Canadian?
Because only in those cases your kid has Canadian citizenship.
If you yourself were born outside Canada and received your Canadian citizenship because one of your parents were Canadian, then your kid is NOT Canadian due to the 2009 change in citizenship rules.
Again, as long as you were born in Canada or you went through the naturalization process (test and oath and all), you are safe.
============================
Now that that is settled, the other question:
The only thing I know is that when you apply for an Indian passport, your kid doesn't lose Canadian citizenship. I don't know anything about Indian citizenship law, though. So you'd have to listen to others when it comes to the question if and how your kid might lose its Indian citizenship.
prak11 said:
Re: Canadian citizenship: the child will be Canadian, no matter what other citizenship he/she has. You don't have to be concerned about the child losing Canadian citizenship, no matter what you do.
Re: Indian citizenship: India does not recognize dual citizenship, so if you assert the child's Canadian citizenship in any way (such as by getting him/her a Canadian passport) and India finds out, the child will lose Indian citizenship. Canada will not inform India that the child has a Canadian passport, but India may find out some other way.
No, the child doesn't get to choose one citizenship or the other at 18. The only choice he/she could make at age 18 is to renounce Canadian citizenship, but that really wouldn't serve any purpose.
The simplest thing to do, if you don't plan to remain in India, is to get the child OCI status.
More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_nationality_law#Renunciation_and_termination_of_Indian_citizenship
Bigudi said:
Yes, the law states that anyone with another citizenship cannot be an Indian citizen. However, I don't believe the Indian government is going to investigate every birth to discover whether the child has a claim to a foreign citizenship. It's only when it comes to their attention (such as by getting a foreign passport) that anything is done.
