Living/Working in Canada whilst waiting for Citizenship certificate?

[Madridtocanada]

Hello All!

Thank you in advance for any advice you might be able to give me!

A bit of background:
My Mom was born in Canada in 1958 and moved back to her parents native England when she was 18 months old. She has lived in England ever since. It is my understanding that I (her daughter, born in England in 1984, aged 31) am a Canadian citizen due to the first descendent allowance. I am hoping to apply for citizenship at the end of this month using her birth certificate from Halifax, Canada. I am currently living in Madrid, Spain and will be applying from here.

1) Am I correct in thinking that I am definitely a canadian citizen?

Background number two:
I am an experienced professional Nanny and have many job possibilities in Canada. I am planning to immigrate to Toronto from Madrid, Spain as soon as possible. I understand that the Citizenship certificate proving I am a canadian citizen may take up to 12 months to process. Hence my next questions:

2) Can I move to Canada (specifically Toronto) whilst waiting for my citizenship certificate?
3) Can I work there as a Canadian while I am waiting with my paperwork to show I am in the application process for my citizenship certificate?
4) If not, do I have any other options to be able to work and live in Canada whilst I am waiting for my citizenship certificate?

I have my moms Canadian birth certificate. I have my British birth certificate. I have a British passport. As I mentioned I am currently living in Spain.

Really I want to be able to move to Canada as soon as possible and I'm trying to work out exactly how soon that could legally be. I will have no problems finding offers of work based on offers I have seen on Canadian job sites.

I would really appreciate any insight into my situation!

Thank you so much!
Coz

 

[tbs15]

Why don't you apply from within Canada that'll save you 3-4 months time hence your total process time would be 5 months, since I see you are in urgent need of moving? You are probably not allowed to work before your citizen docs are fixed.

Let other experts answer your other questions.

 

[tbs15]

You may check cic website for detailed processing time for a citizenship certificate

 

[scylla]

You won't be able to live and work in Canada until you actually have your citizenship certificate.

At this point if you wanted to live and work in Canada sooner, you would have to find an employer willing to offer you a full time job in Canada. That employer would then have to obtain an approved LMIA (this process often takes 4-6 months and costs the employer $1,000 in fees). Once the LMIA is approved, you would then qualify for a closed work permit which would allow you to work and live in Canada. Because of the time, money and effort involved, you'll find the majority of employers aren't willing to go through the LMIA process.