There was a thread here, a while ago, which I participated in but can’t find now, that described my situation pretty well. It concerned a recent change in Canadian immigration law that allowed children (born between certain recent dates) of native-born Canadians to claim Canadian citizenship themselves. My own situation is pretty strange (my dad was a 9 year old runaway, who left Ontario to enter the US, probably illegally, and there’s very little documentation) but I may be eligible–can someone direct me to that thread or supply information independently? I’m ready to engage a lawyer, preferably one from Ontario where documents may be located (I’ve tried searching on-line, with no luck) and just want to describe my situation to him a little more specifically than I can now.
The only recent change to Canadian citizenship law that I’m aware of is Bill C-37, the “Lost Canadian” law. If your father turned 24 between 1947 & 1977, he may have had his citizenship restored to him by this bill, and it’s conceivable that you could have inherited it. Here’s an official guide from Immigration Canada, the agency that handles such matters.
They’ve only simplified and broadened the existing laws. In my case, under an earlier version, the issue was “was the parent a Canadian citizen at the time of my birth?” – pretty easy to solve. If you know the place in Ontario where your father was born, get an official / certified copy of his birth certificate from the government. Then all you have to do is prove the link to you, usually though his marriage certificate and your own birth certificate, but if not there are workarounds involving sworn testimony. If your father is living, you can have him contact the nearest Canadian Consulate to document his citizenship.
No ideas as to the previous thread? I’m pretty sure I’m not imagining this discussion, and it differed from the desciption given in MikeS’s post above, which makes ineligble (my dad was born in 1909, and would have turned 24 in 1933, but I’m pretty sure the changes applied to me.)
Get all of your information at:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp
You might have to dig a bit, but most things a lawyer will tell you are there.
Basically, if your father was born in Canada, he is forever a Canadian unless he took active steps to renounce his citizenship by filling out a bunch of paperwork at a Canadian embassy.
Now, if you’re the child of a first generation Canadian, then you also can be a Canadian. You just have to file the paperwork to get your Citizenship card. You’ll need your Dad’s birth certificate, which you should be able to order from the province of his birth.
However, the recent law change you refer to might be the one where from now on, second generation children born out of Canada are not citizens. This means children you have who are born outside of Canada are not automatically citizens. Until recently they could be.
Also note that if you became a Canadian you could then sponser your children to get a Canadian Permanent Resident card, which they would then be a shoe-in to get.
I don’t have any answers, but want to hear more about your dad! He ran away at age 9, crossed the border illegally, and lived from then on in the US? What a story! Why’d he run away? How did his life turn out?
Was it possible to cross the border illegally in 1918? I didn’t think the US-Canada border was controlled at that time.
Haven’t found the thread you participated in, pseudo rr, but here’s a few previous threads on topic:
So let’s assume the U.S. goes down the toilet - which Anglo country do you move to?
Move to lovely Ontario and enjoy beautiful winters and wonderful summers, and a tax burden that will choke a horse.