Citizenship through grandparent but bypassing parent?

[TomDev]

Hello all,

Just satisfying a curiosity and I am prepared to accept the answer is almost certainly no.

Neither I nor my parents were born in Canada.

My grandfather was born in the UK in 1929 but lived in Canada as an adult and naturalized as a Canadian citizen in 1979, before I was born. He then carried a Canadian passport for the rest of his life. However, he naturalized after my mother was born - she has no link whatsoever to Canada.

While I was born before the apparently all-important 2009 (so it would appear that there is some scope for citizenship by descent through grandparent), would any chain of citizenship through grandparents become broken if, despite my grandparent being Canadian, my parent is 100% not a Canadian citizen?

Logic would lead me to believe that the link/chain would indeed be broken, and it is thus impossible for me to have any claim. However, worth checking if anyone else has any experience/knowledge of this situation.

I also ask because on the "Proof of Citizenship" form (https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/kits/citizen/cit0001e-2.pdf), it lets you tick "no" to either parent being Canadian, but then still guides you to the next section to fill in the information about your grandparents. So I wonder why it would let you do this if it was totally impossible to be a citizen if neither parent is Canadian.

Thanks, have a lovely day!
Tom

 

[Seym]

The technicalities of the different citizenship laws over the years and when you or your mum were born could be worth checking if your grandfather was born in Canada (or at least in what is now the Canadian territory!)
His citizenship being by naturalization, his kids already alive at the time he got the citizenship have no claim to the canadian citizenship. It merely gives the new canadian the possibility to sponsor his minor kids for a permanent residence. Your mum getting the citizenship would only be via naturalization.

You being born outside Canada to non-canadian citizen also have no claim to the citizenship.
For the sake of completeness, your granddad's citizenship does mean that he can sponsor you, or another of his grand kid, if they're minor and lost both their parents. But that's all.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/other-relatives/who-you-can-sponsor.html

 

[hawk39]

While I was born before the apparently all-important 2009 (so it would appear that there is some scope for citizenship by descent through grandparent), would any chain of citizenship through grandparents become broken if, despite my grandparent being Canadian, my parent is 100% not a Canadian citizen?

Citizenship by descent was, and still is, purely based on the status of the parent at the time of the child's birth. Before 2009 and the first generation limit, the parent needed to be a citizen (regardless of how it was acquired) at the time of child's birth for the child to gain citizenship by descent. After 2009, the only exception to the first generation limit is if parent was born while the grandparent was a Crown servant. Unfortunately in your case, it seems the "chain" never got started because your mother was, and still is, not eligible for citizenship by descent herself.

I also ask because on the "Proof of Citizenship" form (https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/kits/citizen/cit0001e-2.pdf), it lets you tick "no" to either parent being Canadian, but then still guides you to the next section to fill in the information about your grandparents. So I wonder why it would let you do this if it was totally impossible to be a citizen if neither parent is Canadian.

Because it was possible that the parent could be Canadian and does not know about it and never applied for proof before. Between 1977 and 2009, anyone born to a citizen was deemed a citizen automatically; thus leading to possibly two or more generations having acquired citizenship automatically between that period. The section is a way for the officer to trace the applicant's claim, or to apply under the Crown servant exception. But since your mother was born before your grandfather became a citizen, she was not born a citizen by descent nor did she acquire it through any of the "lost Canadian" benefits.

Sorry, but as it stands now, the only way for you to be a citizen by descent is if your mother became a naturalized citizen before you were born.