CANADIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

New Canadian Citizenship Rules anger potential applicants

Thursday, 29 January 2009

The department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada have announced imminent changes that may affect the rights of children born to Canadian citizens overseas.

Currently, a child born to Canadian parents abroad is able to claim Canadian citizenship; new federal regulations taking hold in April will effectively eliminate that possibility. The legislation will also affect children adopted by Canadian citizens abroad.

A representative for the immigration department states that this move is designed to preserve the integrity of Canadian citizenship, and to fix apparent anomalies in the current system.

The basic idea is to prevent nationals born abroad from obtaining citizenship in Canada, and then returning to their own country of residence and passing along citizenship rights to people that in many cases have never landed in Canada.

Changes to legislation announced in late 2008 did not extend to include adoptive children of Canadian citizens overseas.

CIC has admitted that the information available on their website is potentially difficult for affected parties to figure out.

The new rules apply only to children of Canadian citizens abroad who are attempting to have their adoptive children, or children born overseas, to be declared citizens based on their own citizenship status.

If you are interested in Visas to Canada, contact Migration Expert for information and advice on which visa is best suited to you. You can also try our visa eligibility assessment to see if you are eligible to apply for a visa to Canada.