CITIZENSHIP

[sameermoledina10]

Hi guys, i am in desperate need of help. My 2 sisters and I are Canadian citizens however my parents got divorced when I was just 13 and as a result we moved from Kenya to India to stay with our mom. We are all majors now and want to move to Canada but my dad wont help us with the Canadian documents such as my passport or citizenship certificate. My sisters and I are currently holding a Kenyan Passports as we acquired Kenyan citizenship by birth. I really don't know what to do.
I am trying to apply for my citizenship certificate but for that i need to submit documents such as original birth certificates which I do not have.

I am sure I am a Canadian citizen because when my mother left my father, she managed to salvage the certificate of commencement of citizenship. But that is a copy and not original. Please note my mother won the divorce case with sole custody of the 3 of us i.e. my 2 sisters and myself

Appreciate all the help I can get.

 

[vensak]

Ok,

So your case is not clear.
You need to state following:
1. Your parents citizenship at the time of your birth.
2. If your parents were Canadian citizens then you need to know more (namely how they become Canadian citizens).

And custody has nothing to do with Citizenship proof.

 

[sameermoledina10]

Ok,

So your case is not clear.
You need to state following:
1. Your parents citizenship at the time of your birth.
2. If your parents were Canadian citizens then you need to know more (namely how they become Canadian citizens).

And custody has nothing to do with Citizenship proof.

Hi thanks for the reply. My dad was a citizen at the time of my birth. He was granted citizenship at that time. My mother was not a citizen though

 

[hawk39]

Hi guys, i am in desperate need of help. My 2 sisters and I are Canadian citizens however my parents got divorced when I was just 13 and as a result we moved from Kenya to India to stay with our mom. We are all majors now and want to move to Canada but my dad wont help us with the Canadian documents such as my passport or citizenship certificate. My sisters and I are currently holding a Kenyan Passports as we acquired Kenyan citizenship by birth. I really don't know what to do.
I am trying to apply for my citizenship certificate but for that i need to submit documents such as original birth certificates which I do not have.

I am sure I am a Canadian citizen because when my mother left my father, she managed to salvage the certificate of commencement of citizenship. But that is a copy and not original. Please note my mother won the divorce case with sole custody of the 3 of us i.e. my 2 sisters and myself

Appreciate all the help I can get.

Sorry, but I don't believe there is an alternative or workaround to the requirement of providing the certified copies needed for your Proof of Citizenship application. You should be able to obtain your own birth certificate from the Kenyan government yourself. Your father's citizenship certificate or any other document that names him as its bearer would be considered his property and he would not be under any obligation to give or disclose it to anyone, including you, without an order from a court of law.

If this is something you really want to pursue, then I think your best course of action would be to consult a lawyer. Good luck.

 

[vensak]

In simple words:
Your father would have to be:
1. Dead
2. Unable to do the legal decisions and would have to be assigned as his legal guardian.

Other than that you need to obtain required documents from your father (he would have to give them willingly).

Good luck

 

[hawk39]

In simple words:
Your father would have to be:
1. Dead

I'll admit that I am not familiar with how estates are handled in Canada, but if the system is similar or the same to US estate law, then it won't be a simple as you would think. When someone passes, all of their assets including documents become part of the deceased person's estate; and if that person had created a will or trust while they were alive, then the executor of the will or trust would be legally obligated to follow the will or trust when it comes to distributing the assets of the estate among the benefactors. So say that the OP's father had re-married and had more children, and decides to name someone in his new family as the executor of his will or trust. If he does not include the OP or his siblings in his will or trust as benefactors, then the OP would have no recourse except to challenge it in court because the executor is legally obligated to follow the will or trust. Now, if the father had completed his will or trust in another country besides Canada, then things would just get much more complicated because if the OP were to want to challenge it, he/she would have to do so in that country's court and be subjected to that country's estate laws.

If the OP's father did not create a will or trust and had another family with whom the OP does not have a amicable relationship with, then everything would have to be decided in court.

 

[sameermoledina10]

In simple words:
Your father would have to be:
1. Dead
2. Unable to do the legal decisions and would have to be assigned as his legal guardian.

Other than that you need to obtain required documents from your father (he would have to give them willingly).

Good luck

He is not giving them to me willingly. Thats the problem for which I am trying to find a solution

 

[vensak]

I'll admit that I am not familiar with how estates are handled in Canada, but if the system is similar or the same to US estate law, then it won't be a simple as you would think. When someone passes, all of their assets including documents become part of the deceased person's estate; and if that person had created a will or trust while they were alive, then the executor of the will or trust would be legally obligated to follow the will or trust when it comes to distributing the assets of the estate among the benefactors. So say that the OP's father had re-married and had more children, and decides to name someone in his new family as the executor of his will or trust. If he does not include the OP or his siblings in his will or trust as benefactors, then the OP would have no recourse except to challenge it in court because the executor is legally obligated to follow the will or trust. Now, if the father had completed his will or trust in another country besides Canada, then things would just get much more complicated because if the OP were to want to challenge it, he/she would have to do so in that country's court and be subjected to that country's estate laws.

If the OP's father did not create a will or trust and had another family with whom the OP does not have a amicable relationship with, then everything would have to be decided in court.

You are able to obtain birth certificate or citizenship certificate of a dead relative (parent for example). The documents by itself will not give you right to any of his assets. They would merely prove the right of the child to get his or her citizenship (you cannot be stripped of that right just because of the will). For this case if he was Canadian citizen he would be regarded as such regardless what the other citizenship would say (that is the tricky part of the dual citizenship - you are giving up protection from your country when facing official from the other country).

 

[vensak]

He is not giving them to me willingly. Thats the problem for which I am trying to find a solution

No other solution. You just have to very kind and explain what are the documents needed for. If he is so fearfull about it beaing misused, try to meet him in person and then you can post the whole application package together. That way he will have control all the time.
Good luck.

 

[hawk39]

You are able to obtain … citizenship certificate of a dead relative (parent for example).

According to the IRCC website, you can search for a deceased person's record of citizenship; however the record letter can not be used as proof of citizenship. So if you know of a way to obtain the actual certificate of citizenship of a deceased person from IRCC, for the benefit of the community and people in similar situations, please share how this can be done.

They would merely prove the right of the child to get his or her citizenship (you cannot be stripped of that right just because of the will).

This is true. Legally, the child would be a citizen by descent; but without that citizenship certificate, the child would not be recognized as one. Thus, the child would need to obtain his/her parent's citizenship certificate first before obtaining his/her own.

 

[vensak]

According to the IRCC website, you can search for a deceased person's record of citizenship; however the record letter can not be used as proof of citizenship. So if you know of a way to obtain the actual certificate of citizenship of a deceased person from IRCC, for the benefit of the community and people in similar situations, please share how this can be done.


This is true. Legally, the child would be a citizen by descent; but without that citizenship certificate, the child would not be recognized as one. Thus, the child would need to obtain his/her parent's citizenship certificate first before obtaining his/her own.

Ok from the application itself (documents that need to be submitted) you have several ways how to prove the citizenship of your parent / grandparent.
Additionally if you do not know, you can indicate the information about the citizenship certificate as unknown.
From the record of citizenship, you will see how to answer rest of the important questions when it comes to your parent and Canada.
You can also attach explanation that you were only able to obtain record of citizenship of the deceased person.
Alternatively you can check if and how you can get proof of citizenship for the deceased person (how the statutory clause is handled in case of dead person).
I am pretty sure, that there must be a sound way, since there are ever so often cases in the same situation (sometimes their deceased parents never asked for the citizenship certificate by themselves). Yet they were able to receive their citizenship certificate.
For this question anybody in a similar situation that manage to get would be able to answer.

However this is somewhat irrelevant (at least for now) to the original question on this topic.