Outdated Citizenship card help

[Kovnerd13]

Hello,

My partner and I are both US citizens. i want to move to Montreal with my partner who just received a job there and is having a company sponsor her. Currently I am 27, but when I was 2-7 years of age I lived in Ontario with my family. They became citizens and I believe I was naturalized and have a Canadian citizenship card from that time. However, it’s a picture of me when I was 6-7 and my birthdate has a typo of the 27th instead of the 22nd as it says on my US passport/ID.

Question is: would I be able to move to Montreal with my partner using this old Canadian citizenship card from my youth without finding a job first to sponsor me?

Any advice and feedback is appreciated. Thanks

 

[shiremag]

Yes, once you are a citizen, you continue to be a citizen until you follow the official process to renounce it. You may also sponsor your spouse for PR in Canada (may be faster than applying for PR via Quebec programmes).

You can enter Canada by showing your US passport and Canadian Citizenship card and CBSA should admit you as a citizen at a land border. The other option is to apply for a Canadian Passport by mail while in the US (check processing times before you apply as there is a backlog) if you intend to fly in. You may still be able to fly into Canada using your US passport and show the Canadian Citizenship Card to a CBSA officer at the airport. However, it is recommended that you have a Canadian passport to enter Canada. It may be faster to apply for a passport in-person in Canada.

You can also look up on how to fix your date of birth on your Citizenship Card once you are in Canada. Citizenship Cards are no longer being issued and have been replaced by Citizenship Certificates. Once your DoB issue is fixed, you can apply for a reissue of a Canadian Passport if you already have one

 

[Mounat]

If you have your parents details, and along with your citizenship card, you should be able to convince a CBSA agent that you are a Canadian citizen and require no sponsorship to live in Canada. The records from your family's naturalization should be readily available to CBSA. However, correcting the date of birth on that card might take a minute (about 16 months as advertised right now). Look into requesting a new proof of citizenship application to make the correction. It happens but I'm wondering why your parents didn't correct the typo twenty years ago?

 

[Kovnerd13]

Yes, once you are a citizen, you continue to be a citizen until you follow the official process to renounce it. You may also sponsor your spouse for PR in Canada (may be faster than applying for PR via Quebec programmes).

You can enter Canada by showing your US passport and Canadian Citizenship card and CBSA should admit you as a citizen at a land border. The other option is to apply for a Canadian Passport by mail while in the US (check processing times before you apply as there is a backlog) if you intend to fly in. You may still be able to fly into Canada using your US passport and show the Canadian Citizenship Card to a CBSA officer at the airport. However, it is recommended that you have a Canadian passport to enter Canada. It may be faster to apply for a passport in-person in Canada.

You can also look up on how to fix your date of birth on your Citizenship Card once you are in Canada. Citizenship Cards are no longer being issued and have been replaced by Citizenship Certificates. Once your DoB issue is fixed, you can apply for a reissue of a Canadian Passport if you already have one

Thanks for the quick reply. I do have an expired Canadian passport but it’s a child’s passport, so I’d need to apply for a brand new one. Last I checked the processing time was long for both getting the Canadian citizenship certificate and new passport and I had hoped to make the move with my partner in a few months, and then once we live there I’d try to get these things resolved in person. I plan to fly in and am worried that my citizenship card just looks nothing like me + birthdate doesn’t completely match what’s on my US documentation so they may think it’s fake or something.

 

[Kovnerd13]

If you have your parents details, and along with your citizenship card, you should be able to convince a CBSA agent that you are a Canadian citizen and require no sponsorship to live in Canada. The records from your family's naturalization should be readily available to CBSA. However, correcting the date of birth on that card might take a minute (about 16 months as advertised right now). Look into requesting a new proof of citizenship application to make the correction. It happens but I'm wondering why your parents didn't correct the typo twenty years ago?

thanks, I do have their details/passports that I can bring, since they don’t need it anymore. I’m not sure, they are foreign and we moved almost immediately after they became citizens due to work reasons so I guess they didn’t bother? It’s a small typo, they must have input the number 2 to look like a 7. I wanted to apply for a new citizenship certificate but it required me to send in my old one and i wanted to make the move sooner then it may have come.

 

[shiremag]

Thanks for the quick reply. I do have an expired Canadian passport but it’s a child’s passport, so I’d need to apply for a brand new one. Last I checked the processing time was long for both getting the Canadian citizenship certificate and new passport and I had hoped to make the move with my partner in a few months, and then once we live there I’d try to get these things resolved in person. I plan to fly in and am worried that my citizenship card just looks nothing like me + birthdate doesn’t completely match what’s on my US documentation so they may think it’s fake or something.

Just carry both your expired Canadian Passport and Citizenship card and get it sorted when you are in Canada

 

[wink]

Not sure why you should bring up the date of birth typo in the context of getting in to Canada. You should just show the old passport and only if that question comes up you should address it, I would think. Most likely that's the date appears in all Canadian records... Once you are here, you can get it fixed.... is my thought....

 

[Kovnerd13]

Not sure why you should bring up the date of birth typo in the context of getting in to Canada. You should just show the old passport and only if that question comes up you should address it, I would think. Most likely that's the date appears in all Canadian records... Once you are here, you can get it fixed.... is my thought....

I guess I’m just expressing my general concerns of them thinkings it’s faked or something, but if they have everything in their files and it matches them hopefully I’m good! Thanks for the reply

 

[wink]

I guess I’m just expressing my general concerns of them thinkings it’s faked or something, but if they have everything in their files and it matches them hopefully I’m good! Thanks for the reply

Yeah, but the challenge could be to prove the (old) passport belongs to you... meaning the person on the passport and you are the same person... carrying documents to support that claim is necessary, I think.

 

[Kovnerd13]

Yeah, but the challenge could be to prove the (old) passport belongs to you... meaning the person on the passport and you are the same person... carrying documents to support that claim is necessary, I think.

Right, i have a fairly unique name and birthplace, which matches up on my child Canadian passport/citizenship card with my US documents. I was worried that due to the child picture and incorrect day of the month, they would be doubtful of its authenticity and like you said, if it is me. I can bring my parents old passports and I have their naturalization documents as well. Hopefully that will be enough and I won't have too many issues trying to prove I am a citizen of Canada once we make the move.

 

[firstax]

It wouldn't hurt to have your birth certificate as well, so you'll be able to get the date fixed.