Born in Canada - whats the easiest way to get back?

[Hellen-UK]

Could anyone point me in the right direction.....

I was born in Canada in 1983
My mother is British but was working in Canada at the time.
My Father is Canadian - though he is not on my birth certificate, so I suppose he's irrelevant.
I returned to the UK just before my 1st birthday.
My mother changed my passport from Canadian to British.

I have always intended relocating to Canada, and now the time is right for me, what is the simplest way to immigrate; I am not looking eventually become a fully fledged Canadian - a permanent move. Does me being born in Canada mean I can skip the points system? And if so how do I go about applying for this?

Many thanks
Hellen

Great site by the way!

[Leon]

Do you have your birth certificate?  If it says you were born in Canada and your mother is not a diplomat, you are very likely a dual citizen.  You can try applying directly for a Canadian passport at http://www.ppt.gc.ca/form/pdfs/pptc040.pdf

[Hellen-UK]

hi and thanks for the quick response,

I have my birth certificate (and my original Canadian passport), I also have a letter from the British Home-office stating that I am a "British citizen by descent" but it makes no reference to renouncing my Canadian status or dual nationality.

Would my mother have had to officially request I was no longer a Canadian citizen?? Would I have automatically been given dual nationality unless she stated otherwise?

Thanks again

[Leon]

You would automatically have been given Canadian citizenship for being born there.  Your mother would not have had to renounce your Canadian citizenship to get you a British one since the UK allows dual.  You would not have lost the Canadian one through taking the UK one because Canada allows dual too.

Nobody gives you dual.  It's more like your one grandma gives you a book and your other grandma gives you a book and then you have 2 but not because somebody gave you two, because you got 1 from each place.  Countries that don't allow dual would be like the grumpy grandma who says "since you already have a book, I will not give you one unless you return the one you have" but UK and Canada are both nice grandmas who don't care how many other citizenships you already have.

So either apply for a passport directly or if you prefer to get a citizenship certificate first, you can do that at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/proof-how.asp but you normally don't need a citizenship certificate when you are born in Canada and have the birth certificate to prove it.

[Hellen-UK]

WOW -  thanks so much!