Child sponsorship without CA residence

[Teya]

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all safe and well in these strange times.

Our family is in a bit of pickle and I'd be grateful for some advice. My ex husband lives in Montreal and is a Canadian citizen (citizenship & passport obtained 2 years ago). I am not in any way affiliated with Canada. We would like to obtain citizenship for our 12-yr old son but without moving him to permanently live in Canada. My son and I are in the UK and he is too young to move to his father's yet. He currently only spends his school vacations in Canada.

Is there a way to get our son's documents sorted - CA citizenship or perm residence - while he is still permanently living in the UK?

Many thanks to anyone who's able to give advice!

 

[scylla]

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all safe and well in these strange times.

Our family is in a bit of pickle and I'd be grateful for some advice. My ex husband lives in Montreal and is a Canadian citizen (citizenship & passport obtained 2 years ago). I am not in any way affiliated with Canada. We would like to obtain citizenship for our 12-yr old son but without moving him to permanently live in Canada. My son and I are in the UK and he is too young to move to his father's yet. He currently only spends his school vacations in Canada.

Is there a way to get our son's documents sorted - CA citizenship or perm residence - while he is still permanently living in the UK?

Many thanks to anyone who's able to give advice!

Your ex can sponsor him for PR.

https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp

That's the first step. Processing normally takes around 6-8 months but expect longer processing times now due to COVID-19. I would plan for a year.

 

[Teya]

Your ex can sponsor him for PR.

https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/spouse.asp

That's the first step. Processing normally takes around 6-8 months but expect longer processing times now due to COVID-19. I would plan for a year.

Thank you, Scylla!
But then at what point would he be expected to spend time in the country and how much time to actually obtain the PR?

 

[andrew3081]

Your son need to stay in Canada for 2 years out of 5 years to keep his PR after getting approved.

If he wants to get Canadian Citizenship, he needs to be in Canada 3 years out of 5 years.

 

[Teya]

Your son need to stay in Canada for 2 years out of 5 years to keep his PR after getting approved.

If he wants to get Canadian Citizenship, he needs to be in Canada 3 years out of 5 years.

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your answer.
Please let me know if I understood correctly.

If his PR application gets approved (long process, 8-12 months) on date X, he has X + 5 years to keep it. Out of these next 5 yrs he needs to spend 2 yrs in Canada.
Do these need to be 24 consecutive months or could he spend say 3-4 months a year there?
If he wants to obtain citizenship after these 5 yrs of PR, does the 3/year countdown start anew?
Does his age matter when applying for citizenship? For example, if he is 20 and still holds PR, could he still apply for citizenship or would it be easier to obtain it while he is under 18 yrs of age?

Thank you!

 

[Bs65]

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your answer.
Please let me know if I understood correctly.

If his PR application gets approved (long process, 8-12 months) on date X, he has X + 5 years to keep it. Out of these next 5 yrs he needs to spend 2 yrs in Canada.
Do these need to be 24 consecutive months or could he spend say 3-4 months a year there?
If he wants to obtain citizenship after these 5 yrs of PR, does the 3/year countdown start anew?
Does his age matter when applying for citizenship? For example, if he is 20 and still holds PR, could he still apply for citizenship or would it be easier to obtain it while he is under 18 yrs of age?

Thank you!

Once PR has been granted he would need to travel to Canada to activate his PR status referred to as landing.

To keep his PR status he needs from date of landing to spend a minmum of 2 years in the 5 years from landing in Canada. After the initial 5 years the 5 year window becomes a rolling 5 year period where needs to show 2 years at each new entry to Canada. The 2 years do not have to be consecutive as long as in any 5 years period the total is 2 years.

Citizenship generally requires 3 years physical presence in Canada in a 5 year period before a citizenship application although there are different provisions for a minor, see link below. Arguably may be easier before reaching 18 given after that he would need to apply himself as opposed to through the support of a Canadian Citizen Parent subject to conditions as in the link.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...nadian-citizenship-minors-under-18-years.html

 

[armoured]

Your son need to stay in Canada for 2 years out of 5 years to keep his PR after getting approved.

If he wants to get Canadian Citizenship, he needs to be in Canada 3 years out of 5 years.

I believe as a minor with PR status, resident in Canada, and child of a Canadian citizen, he could apply for citizenship immediately. It may mean residing in Canada until the citizenship is received.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...nadian-citizenship-minors-under-18-years.html

Note in this instruction the minor child, resident in Canada, can be eligible for citizenship if either parent is a Canadian citizen. They must be resident but no requirement to fulfill the 3 of 5 years requirement.

If clarification is needed, the citizenship forums here may be useful.

 

[armoured]

Citizenship generally requires 3 years physical presence in Canada in a 5 year period before a citizenship application although there are different provisions for a minor, see link below.

To be clear, the 'different provisions for a minor' are that they do not need to meet the three of five years test. The application could be submitted as soon as the child becomes a PR. No idea how long the processing may take, though.

 

[scylla]

I believe as a minor with PR status, resident in Canada, and child of a Canadian citizen, he could apply for citizenship immediately. It may mean residing in Canada until the citizenship is received.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...nadian-citizenship-minors-under-18-years.html

Note in this instruction the minor child, resident in Canada, can be eligible for citizenship if either parent is a Canadian citizen. They must be resident but no requirement to fulfill the 3 of 5 years requirement.

If clarification is needed, the citizenship forums here may be useful.

Agreed with this. The residency requirement doesn't have to be met to apply for citizenship but the child needs to be living in Canada.