Confused about fiancee's potential of getting citizenship

[beholder69]

Hello guys, first post in the forum and will be probably posting some topics for the months to come!

Me and my fiancee (both Greek) are thinking of moving to Canada for work, hopefully within the next 12-24 months. I have been reading a lot in websites, CIC etc but have a question about my fiancee.

Her father was a Greek immigrant to Canada who after years of work also got the Canadian citizenship but now that he got his pension has returned to Greece. Can my fiancee get the Canadian citizenship after all those years (she's 28 now) and without her father having been born in Canada?

Obviously we are just looking into different ways of getting into the country and which one of them would be best as it seems like just finding a job online will be very hard.

 

[Leon]

Was he already a Canadian citizen when she was born? If yes, then she has a chance. If no, then no.

 

[beholder69]

Thanks for the fast response 8)

Yes, he was. He met his wife and had children after he returned to Greece (already being a Canadian citizen), so I guess a visit to the embassy with his papers will be worth it

 

[Leon]

Yes, your fiancee could apply for a citizenship certificate through the embassy. It takes a about a year to a year and a half to get it though but if you have concrete plans to fly and have tickets bought, you might be able to ask for it to be expedited. After your fiancee gets citizenship, if you have been living together for at least 12 months or you get married, she can sponsor you for Canadian PR.

 

[beholder69]

That's great, couldn't ask for a more helpful response! Thanks again

 

[beholder69]

Me again, thought of not starting a new thread as it is relative to the previous posts.

Basically my fiancee is currently gathering all the paperwork required for Citizenship.

We have a Greek-Canadian accountant (he has been dealing with her father's pension etc) so we went to visit him in order to have his professional help filling the application and gathering all the necessary documents.

Apart from the fact that he tried to persuade us not to go to Canada for a strange reason which is completely irrelevant, he told us the application would need about a year and a half to get processed. Now don't get me wrong, I'd like to leave fast but don't really mind waiting as I have some work to take care of here first, however I asked him about the prospect of buying tickets in order to get her citizen card faster and he told us this only works for her passport. I asked him if he was sure since I had seen it mentioned many times on the Internet and he sounded positive that this cannot happen and that he's doing this for a living 16 years now, so there would be no chance of him not knowing that.

Is that true? Tickets only making the passport process faster and not the Citizenship card?

 

[Leon]

Some people who were on this forum said that they got their kids citizenship cards in 2 months after having asked for them to be expedited because they wanted to move. Nobody can guarantee 2 months but they should be able to do it faster than in a year and a half. Then your spouse has to sponsor you for PR so it definitely is a long term process before you can both be working.

 

[beholder69]

Thanks! Yes, I know mine is a long process, just trying to make the whole thing a few months faster if possible. I guess we'd have to ask the embassy in Rome directly, since the accountant insists it cannot be done. On the other hand even if they could do it faster with tickets, my fiancee wouldn't move to Canada without me, so it would get a bit complicated anyway I'm afraid, having to explain why she didn't move when she said she would etc ???

 

[Leon]

Who says you'd have to explain why you didn't move when you said you would? I think it is unlikely that you would ever be asked. Also ask the embassy if she can start sponsorship of you before she actually get the citizenship certificate. A Canadian citizen does not have to be in Canada to sponsor a spouse. She would only have to show plans that you are planning on moving to Canada when you get your PR. And of course you would either have to be married or have lived together for 12 months or longer like I said before.

 

[beholder69]

Sounds good! ;D

The latter won't be an issue, we are getting married in August and we had already been living together for more than 4 years anyway.

So we'll just send the application and paperwork and get in touch with the embassy in Rome to see if we can make all this any faster.

 

[beholder69]

A very unfortunate update, but my fiancee's father passed away 10 days ago.

Now after the initial shock has passed we were wondering if that fact would affect her application for citizenship at all. The logical assumption would be that it shouldn't, but worth asking I guess in case it does.

 

[Leon]

Condolences to your girlfriend for losing her father but his death will not affect the process as she is entitled to citizenship because he was already a Canadian citizen when she was born. It is not like he is sponsoring her or anything like that.

 

[beholder69]

Once again thank you both for your condolences and your swift assistance Leon, really appreciate it! 8)

 

[hoping75]

Hi,

My Brother obtained the citizenship certificates for his 2 kids in less than 2 months, and he did not even request faster processing.
Everything went very quickly.

Good luck

 

[beholder69]

Hi,

My Brother obtained the citizenship certificates for his 2 kids in less than 2 months, and he did not even request faster processing.
Everything went very quickly.

Good luck

That's great to hear, thanks for the info!

Apparently the embassy in Rome is the slowest in terms of processing time, but any time we might be able to save, even if it is a couple of months, would be great anyway