Citizenship Problem: baby born outside of Canada

[rejalee]

My wife was born in Canada, while I moved to Canada and obtained my citizenship when I was 17.

We both have left Canada, and will be giving birth to a baby. We are considering where to give birth. There is one concern, which is, if the baby is not born in Canada, he cannot pass on the Canadian citizenship to the next generation, and his next generation can become stateless.

My wife and I were thinking, even though the baby can get the citizenship by birth, what if we do not apply for it, and instead, when we decide to move back to Canada for good, we help him apply for PR and then become a naturalized citizen. In this case, the citizenship can pass onto the nex t generation regardless.

Any thought? Would that be a dumb idea? Or would it actually work or the immigration department would easily determine that the baby has canadian citizenship and reject the PR application.

 

[dpenabill]

My wife was born in Canada, while I moved to Canada and obtained my citizenship when I was 17.

We both have left Canada, and will be giving birth to a baby. We are considering where to give birth. There is one concern, which is, if the baby is not born in Canada, he cannot pass on the Canadian citizenship to the next generation, and his next generation can become stateless.

My wife and I were thinking, even though the baby can get the citizenship by birth, what if we do not apply for it, and instead, when we decide to move back to Canada for good, we help him apply for PR and then become a naturalized citizen. In this case, the citizenship can pass onto the nex t generation regardless.

Any thought? Would that be a dumb idea? Or would it actually work or the immigration department would easily determine that the baby has canadian citizenship and reject the PR application.

Following is based on current law. These laws are always subject to change. Citizenship law has changed a lot in the last two decades, so it can be easily anticipated that there will be other changes before a child not yet born in turn has children.


Under current law the child will be a Canadian citizen regardless where born. If born abroad, the child will have Canadian citizenship by descent.

There is no application for citizenship by descent. There is only an application for proof of citizenship. The child will be a Canadian citizen even if no application for proof of citizenship is ever made.

Thus, the child will not be eligible for Canadian PR status.

A plan for the child to become a PR is not a feasible approach to assuring your grandchildren too will be Canadian citizens.

As a Canadian citizen your child will be able to sponsor his or her children for Canadian PR status. The process for those children to become citizens, once they are PRs, is relatively easy. Of course there are some requirements to meet, ranging from actually coming to Canada to the parent being eligible to sponsor, but the threshold is fairly low so long as by that stage of things there is an actual tie to Canada beyond merely status by descent.

 

[canvis2006]

healthcare is covered in Alberta from day one. Why not have birth in Canada instead and then leave with baby's Canadian docs?
It will take 2-3 months after birth and save you all that hassle........but gotta spend few months here obviously

 

[links18]

Child will be a Canadian citizen the second it is born, regardless of where birth occurs. So, the PR plan wont work, which is a little ironic that a child born a citizen, in some sense of the concept, has fewer "rights" than one who naturalizes--but such is the law.