Checking for my dad. His grandmother was born in Montreal in 1878. His father was born in Alaska (pre-statehood) 1903 and my dad was born in the US in 1936. Is he eligible?
My dad?
- Thread starter michellelamour
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Sorry, but because your father would be considered the second generation born abroad in relation to his grandmother, he is not eligible for citizenship by descent due to the first generation limit of the current Citizenship Act.
Even though he was born in 1936? I thought the first generation limit only applied if you were born after 2009?
Hi
1, If you use the Am I Canadian Tool, https://na1se.voxco.com/SE/default.aspx he says he is probably not a Canadian citizen.
That's a common misconception; essentially, in order for any generation beyond the first to be eligible for citizenship by descent after 2009, the parent needed to be a Canadian citizen at the time of their birth without benefiting from the retroactivity granted by the 2009 Act. Essentially, the parent needed to have already been a citizen when their child was born before the 2009 Act.
In your father's case, unfortunately his father (a.k.a. your grandfather) was not eligible for citizenship by descent until 2015 because at the time of his birth, under British law and then the 1947 Act (when Canadian citizenship began), wedded mothers could not pass down their British citizenship and then Canadian citizenship to their children; only fathers could, so your grandfather was not born a British subject or was not made a natural Canadian citizen in 1947. Under the 1977 Act, a special grant of citizenship was made available to those children affected by the previous law to apply for; however only children born to those who gained citizenship through this method after-the-fact would be eligible for citizenship by descent. Even if your grandfather had applied for this grant, your father would not be eligible because he was born before your grandfather could have applied for it. The 2015 Act retroactively granted citizenship by descent to your grandfather as the first generation born abroad; however the generation limit was also implemented, thus your father is now second generation and ineligible for citizenship from his father.
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For others who may read this, had it been my dad's grandfather that was born in Canada, he might have had a shot? His father was already deceased by 1977. There are a couple of websites out there that will supposedly handle your application for citizenship by descent for $200 that specifically mention grand and great grandparents as making you eligible. It seemed too good to be true. Thank you for the detailed explanation.
I don't believe it would have made a difference. At the commencement of Canadian citizenship in 1947, if someone was born outside of Canada before 1947, they would only become a Canadian citizen by descent if their parent was born in Canada and had not acquired another citizenship. Your father was born well before this in 1936, and his father was born in Alaska, so unfortunately, the claim would seem to end there.
These websites do not guarantee that your application would be approved though; they would just fill out the forms and put the application package together for you, but you would still need to provide the documents to them. The current Citizenship Act does not revoke citizenship by descent for subsequent generations if the applicant was legislatively eligible for it when they were born at that time, not because of the retroactivity afforded by the Act; hence the vague eligibility claim of those websites.
So, even though she was born in Montreal and only spoke French, she was technically a UK citizen? She never renounced her citizenship or naturalized. Sorry, dad. Now my dad's cousin - his father was born in Canada while grandma was visiting her family - he could claim citizenship? Do I have that right?
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave most of France's territories (including Quebec) on the North American mainland to Britain, so when your great-grandmother was born in Montreal over a hundred years later, she was born as a British subject.
As long as his cousin's father had not formally renounced his British subject status or Canadian citizenship at time of his son's birth, yes, your dad's cousin is eligible for citizenship by descent from his father.
Unless your mother was born in Canada or naturalized as a Canadian citizen before your birth, sorry but you do not.
Thank you, I appreciate the clarification. I will relay this information to my dad's cousin. However, he's close to 90 so I don't think he will apply.