Renouncing foreign citizenship

[MasterGeek]

https://youtu.be/uMoa1vbxRWk?t=137

In the above video, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration claims that in Canada, "there is a way to renouncing every citizenship, no one in our country can be forced to be the citizen of any country. And under laws of Canada, citizenship can be renounced, either ours or those of other countries".

How is that possible to renounce, say Iranian or Egyptian citizenship, in the eyes of Canada despite the fact that the concerned foreign countries don't allow the renunciation of their respective citizenships. Do you take an appointment at a CIC office to make a formal declaration that you're renouncing a foreign citizenship ? Or send a citizenship renunciation registered letter to the local foreign embassy then send the proof of receipt to CIC ??

 

[PMM]

Hi

https://youtu.be/uMoa1vbxRWk?t=137

In the above video, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration claims that in Canada, "there is a way to renouncing every citizenship, no one in our country can be forced to be the citizen of any country. And under laws of Canada, citizenship can be renounced, either ours or those of other countries".

How is that possible to renounce, say Iranian or Egyptian citizenship, in the eyes of Canada despite the fact that the concerned foreign countries don't allow the renunciation of their respective citizenships. Do you take an appointment at a CIC office to make a formal declaration that you're renouncing a foreign citizenship ? Or send a citizenship renunciation registered letter to the local foreign embassy then send the proof of receipt to CIC ??

1. CIC doesn't care. It is your choice to renounce your citizenship, but you can't make your self stateless. I.e. You are an Iranian citizen, and a PR of Canada, you can't renounce your Iranian citizenship.
2. Iran does allow renunciation: http://iranianembassy.nl/en/consular.php?content=241
3. Egypt: http://www.wikiprocedure.com/index.php/Egypt_-_Renunciation_of_Egyptian_Nationality

 

[admontreal]

Hi,

I had the same question. What Chris Alexander said didn't make a lot of sense.

@PMM
Thank you for the answers. However :
The first point does not respond to the question, which is not about CIC caring or not, but just a questionning about what Chris Alexander meant in this video, from a practical view. If X is a citizen of a country Y, and becomes Canadian, and wants to get rid of countrie's Y citizenship, the country Y can always refuse the renunciation, so X would be obliged to be a dual national, which is fundamentaly unfair.

I'm sorry but Iran does not allow the renunciation, the condition number 2 in the link you sent is impossible to fulfill. I am not iranian but I know some iranians who tried to do so and couldn't. The embassy staff told them they would be iranians whether they like it or not. Until death. Which I find, with all due respect to this Nation, very backwards. Same thing for North African nationalities, which can't be renounced.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hi,

I had the same question. What Chris Alexander said didn't make a lot of sense.

@ PMM
Thank you for the answers. However :
The first point does not respond to the question, which is not about CIC caring or not, but just a questionning about what Chris Alexander meant in this video, from a practical view. If X is a citizen of a country Y, and becomes Canadian, and wants to get rid of countrie's Y citizenship, the country Y can always refuse the renunciation, so X would be obliged to be a dual national, which is fundamentaly unfair.

I'm sorry but Iran does not allow the renunciation, the condition number 2 in the link you sent is impossible to fulfill. I am not iranian but I know some iranians who tried to do so and couldn't. The embassy staff told them they would be iranians whether they like it or not. Until death. Which I find, with all due respect to this Nation, very backwards. Same thing for North African nationalities, which can't be renounced.

1. Yet is not CIC's problem. Your "bitch" would be with the country that refuses to allow it's citizens to renounce their citizenship. What is CIC or for that matter going to do? By the way Iran has a process, just because you think that it may not work, they do have a process.

 

[admontreal]

With all due respect, you still don't get the point of this question, and you keep repeating that it's not CIC's problem. Thanks anyways.

 

[ZingyDNA]

With all due respect, you still don't get the point of this question, and you keep repeating that it's not CIC's problem. Thanks anyways.

I'm pretty sure he gets it. If I understand you correctly, you think it's unfair that some countries practically do not allow their citizenships to be renounced, and CIC still retains the right to revoke the Canadian citizenship of those involuntary dual citizens.

First of all, I think it's a very minor issue. You'd have to join Al Qaeda to get your citizenship revoked so revoking citizenship is irrelevant to 99.99% of the people.

Secondly, what can CIC do about this? Treat those dual citizens as sole Canadian, and never revoke their Canadian citizenship? That might violate international laws and more importantly, open loopholes for people to claim involuntary dual citizenship while it is possible, albeit very hard, to renounce their original citizenship.

 

[asaif]

Your second citizenship is something between you and the other country. The Canadian government has nothing to do with it since it is a matter of "sovereignty", meaning that Canada has control over matters related to its citizenship only and can't force any other country to give or withdraw its citizenship to/from an individual.

Dual (or multiple) citizenship is allowed in Canada and once you are granted the Canadian citizenship the government will treat you as a Canadian regardless of your other citizenship(s). That's how far the Canadian government concerns itself over this matter. Beyond that it's your problem. This minister doesn't know what he is talking about (as you'd expect from a conservative minister).

 

[admontreal]

This minister doesn't know what he is talking about (as you'd expect from a conservative minister).

That's all I wanted to outline. I fundamentally agree with what PMM and ZingyDNA said. In my opinion, the question from MasterGeek wasn't about what CIC is doing, if it's right and wrong. It's about the gap between what a minister says in public to 'sell' a law, and the practical tools to verify what he said.

It is indeed a minor issue, the only thing CIC could hypothetically do about it would be to ask for a voluntary relinquishment of all your citizenships in order to become Canadian. As Japan and many other countries already do. But that also would be unfair for a lot of Canadians.