the CanadaVisa Team - 22 July, 2015
Effective December 23, 2007, a new amendment to Canada's citizenship laws has gone into effect to streamline the process of obtaining citizenship for children adopted abroad by Canadian parents. The process for these cases is now more in line with that for children born abroad to Canadian parents.
Traditionally, adoptive parents had to sponsor their child for permanent residence before they could apply for citizenship for their adopted child. Now Canadian parents can apply directly for their adopted child's citizenship and then apply for a passport through the appropriate Canadian government office outside of Canada. This reduces the necessary paperwork considerably.
"Canadian families open their hearts to adopt foreign-born children and we want to support them by making it easier for their adopted children to become Canadian citizens," stated Citizenship and Immigration Canada Minister Diane Finley. "Canadian families welcome foreign-born children to their homes and we want to welcome them into the country. The new citizenship process means that citizenship can be granted to adopted children after the adoption is complete."
Bill C-14, the amendment making this streamlining process possible, entails some legislative requirements to ensure the adoption conforms to adoption laws in Canada and the country where the adoption takes place. It also has some exceptions: if the adoption is to be completed in Canada, or if it is a guardianship arrangement rather than a full adoption, the adopted child may still have to go through the immigration process.
