Citizenship by descent

[Timleprof]

Hello everybody.
I'd be very grateful if anyone could help me know if I can qualify for Canadian citizenship through my paternal grandfather.
My great-grandfather went to Saskatchewan after serving in WW1 and set up a settlement way up north.
His son, my grandfather was born there in the 20s, so I believe he became a citizen automatically in 1947. My grandfather came back to the UK before WW2 and had 4 children, including my father. Unfortunately my grandfather died in 1976 in England after suffering for many years from injuries incurred in the war. I don't know if he ever applied for Canadian citizenship, but I imagine he was automatically Canadian through his place of birth in Saskatchewan.
My father was born in London, England, in 1945. He has never formally applied for Canadian citizenship and has a British passport, but after some research it seems that he automatically obtained Canadian citizenship in 2009 despite his birth never having been registered at a Canadian consulate.
I was born in 1970 in the US, unfortunately, but have lived in France for the last 25 years.
Could I have a claim for Canadian citizenship?
Many thanks for any advice or information!

 

[scylla]

Hello everybody.
I'd be very grateful if anyone could help me know if I can qualify for Canadian citizenship through my paternal grandfather.
My great-grandfather went to Saskatchewan after serving in WW1 and set up a settlement way up north.
His son, my grandfather was born there in the 20s, so I believe he became a citizen automatically in 1947. My grandfather came back to the UK before WW2 and had 4 children, including my father. Unfortunately my grandfather died in 1976 in England after suffering for many years from injuries incurred in the war. I don't know if he ever applied for Canadian citizenship, but I imagine he was automatically Canadian through his place of birth in Saskatchewan.
My father was born in London, England, in 1945. He has never formally applied for Canadian citizenship and has a British passport, but after some research it seems that he automatically obtained Canadian citizenship in 2009 despite his birth never having been registered at a Canadian consulate.
I was born in 1970 in the US, unfortunately, but have lived in France for the last 25 years.
Could I have a claim for Canadian citizenship?
Many thanks for any advice or information!

Short answer is that your father may have had a claim to citizenship but you almost certainly do not. Recommend you post your question in the Citizenship section of the forum.

 

[Timleprof]

Thanks for your reply. Would I not have qualified under the 2009 act as my father would have had citizenship automatically conferred to him under the 1947 act? I've changed the thread.

 

[vensak]

Thanks for your reply. Would I not have qualified under the 2009 act as my father would have had citizenship automatically conferred to him under the 1947 act? I've changed the thread.

It is because your father was never registered (when he was supposed to), that is why you are now considered as a second generation abroad. And that is regardless that you were born before 2009.

 

[hawk39]

It is because your father was never registered (when he was supposed to), that is why you are now considered as a second generation abroad. And that is regardless that you were born before 2009.

Actually, because the OP's father was born before the commencement of Canadian citizenship in 1947, I think he was not subjected to the requirement for registration (which applied for those born after the commencement). However, he was subjected to the requirement to apply for retention before turning 22. But from what the OP has said in that his/her father did not formally apply for Canadian citizenship, I take it to mean that he did not apply for retention before turning 22; so the outcome is the same in that the OP can not claim citizenship by descent.

 

[hawk39]

Would I not have qualified under the 2009 act as my father would have had citizenship automatically conferred to him under the 1947 act?

Under the current Citizenship Act, anyone who became a citizen in 1947 (by birth, naturalization, descent), including your father, would be a citizen under 3(1)(d). But because your father lost his citizenship when he turned 22 for not applying to retain it, it was restored in 2009 and he became a citizen under 3(1)(f) instead, which basically says those that had lost their Canadian citizenship because of previous legislations, with the exception of formally renouncing it or getting it revoked, is once again a Canadian citizen. However, 3(3) says that children (i.e.: you) born from citizens that had gained citizenship under other paragraphs including 3(1)(f), but who had originally gotten it under 3(1)(d) through descent (i.e. your father), are subject to the first generation limit by descent.