Principal Applicant (Outside) / Dependant (In Canada)

[yasirmajid]

Dear Members,

Does principal applicant need to stay in Canada in order to make depandants Canadian citizen?

Situation
One of my friends, whose is now Permanent Resident (PR), would like to return his home country but leaving his depandents here. Will his family (spouse & children) get citizenship after 4 years, if the principal applicant remains outside Canada for that time?

Regards
Yasir

[Leon]

Once they all land as PR's, there is no principal applicant any more.  The family will be able to live in Canada and apply for citizenship when they meet the requirements.

[yasirmajid]

Thanks for your reply Leon.

But what if the head of the people leave Canada and is not interested any more to be a Canadian citizen. Will the rest of the family members still get Citizenship, if they live in Canada for next 4 years and meet the citizen requirements.

Thanks.
Yasir

[Baloo]

Thanks for your reply Leon.

But what if the head of the people leave Canada and is not interested any more to be a Canadian citizen. Will the rest of the family members still get Citizenship, if they live in Canada for next 4 years and meet the citizen requirements.

Thanks.
Yasir

I understand that once they are all PR's, they are dealt with individually.
So as long as each individual meets the citizenship criteria, that individual can become a citizen.

[Leon]

Thanks for your reply Leon.

But what if the head of the people leave Canada and is not interested any more to be a Canadian citizen. Will the rest of the family members still get Citizenship, if they live in Canada for next 4 years and meet the citizen requirements.

Thanks.
Yasir

Like I explained before, after they all land, there is no principal applicant any more.  You say "head of the people" but under Canada law, there is no head of the people.  Each of them is PR.  Each of them is responsible for their own PR regardless of what the other ones do.  If there are minor children, of course the parents are responsible for the children but if the mother is with the children in Canada, then she can take care of them.  In Canada, the father is not more important than the mother.  Both of them area equally the head of the family and if the father is not even living in the home, then the mother is the head of the family by herself.

If the father does not meet his residency requirements for his PR of staying in Canada 730 days  in his first 5 years as a PR, he will lose his PR.  By that time, the wife and children could already be citizens.  They can apply after living in Canada for 3 years and it might take a year to 18 months to get the citizenship through.  After that they can stay or leave if they want to because you don't lose citizenship.  The wife could also sponsor the husband for PR again.