To get a Canadian passport?

[cheesenpickles]

Everything that's been happening lately I've been thinking about hedging my bets and taking up my dual nationality... just in case.

My dm was Canadian (deceased now) so I'm guessing based on that I can get Canadian citizenship as well as a British?

Has anybody applied for this? What's the process like? I'm guessing I'll have to get a copy of her birth certificate from her province as I have no idea where hers went (and I vaguely remember her having to do lots of running around to replaced some sort of document that was damaged in a records office in Canada etc).

Also, if I get dual citizenship/passport I'm guessing my kids will then be eligible as well?

I'd really like to see if there's a spike in numbers for people with dual citizenship after Brexit.

FWIW Brexit is one of the main reasons I'm applying for dual citizenship for my kid. That and the fact it's a lot more complicated after he turns 14.

If you become a Canadian citizen you have to have both a British and Canadian passport to enter Canada.

Not true. DS has both UK and Canadian passports. He travelled Canada-UK-Spain-UK-Canada and never once had to show his UK passport.

The Canadian high commission will be able to tell you which form you need and they are very helpful. It really is not expensive (I am Canadian and have been in the Uk with Right to Remain visa and it would cost me well over £2,000 to get a British passport. I have just applied for my Dss to get Canadian citizenship and it was something ridiculous like £80 each). It’s a very simple process. The difficulty will be with your mothers birth certificate. It will be complicated but the information will be available in English.

Quebec government has an office in the UK. They might be able to give you guidance on birth certificate international.gouv.qc.ca/en/londres/immigrer

And Canadian high commission is

Sorry I missed the link www.canadainternational.gc.ca/united_kingdom-royaume_uni/index.aspx?lang=eng

Thank you!

Just a technical point, but do you really "become" a citizen as a consequence of a parents origin, or are you one legally one automatically, and really all you're applying for is some up-to-date documentary evidence of that, i.e. a passport.

OP started off saying this was about getting a passport, but later conflated that with gaining citizenship.

As far as I understand citizenship is automatic if you are entitled to it but as it needs to be proved, the citizenship papers have to be acquired. Then you can apply for passport.

We would if we could. Lucky you.

I'd really like to see if there's a spike in numbers for people with dual citizenship after Brexit.
And a big spike in applications for British citizenship.

Not true. DS has both UK and Canadian passports. He travelled Canada-UK-Spain-UK-Canada and never once had to show his UK passport.

I think the point PP is making is that if you are a Canadian citizen with dual citizenship, you can't travel to Canada on a British (or other foreign) passport. You must have a Canadian passport.

www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/application-citizenship-certificate-adults-minors.html

Does this help?

I'd really like to see if there's a spike in numbers for people with dual citizenship after Brexit.

Well didn't the Irish embassy report running out of forms ? And when I renewed my Italian passport they said it had been mayhem since the referendum. (Which is saying something if you know your Italian bureaucracy )

No, you don't need an ESTA if you have (and present just) a Canadian Passport. But your travelling companions do. My mum and I had to wait nearly an hour for DH to go through immigration at Niagara Falls once! And he had an ESTA.

The only time I presented my British passport was flying home to the UK. The airline and UK immigration wanted to see it.

That's right. I am "technically" a Canadian citizen by birth but need to apply for proof. From there I can then apply for a passport.

That's interesting about not needing an ESTA, when I was younger it was always a pipe dream of working in NYC on my Canadian passport. I think I could have gone to a Canadian university as a domestic student.

As a child I had to go through all the big queues coming and going through passport control because of my mum's passport but didn't mind as they always stamped my passport for me, even in EU countries. Got quite the collection!

I’m just coming on to say I’m unbelievably jealous😩. Fancy a visitor when you move?!😁

Haha! I have a lot of people telling us to move anyway but it's really not something we're definitely going to do. Makes me laugh as my mum refuses to go back to Canada when she was younger because it was "boring"

That's interesting about not needing an ESTA, when I was younger it was always a pipe dream of working in NYC on my Canadian passport.

You would still need to get a visa to work in the US as a Canadian.

@bliminy I thought that would be the case anyway

Dual citizenship is always good as a fall back. You fundamentally can’t kniw how things will turn out in twenty years time etc and it’s fantastic having a he freedom to just fuck off elsewhere if you decide to.

*Not true. DS has both UK and Canadian passports. He travelled Canada-UK-Spain-UK-Canada and never once had to show his UK passport.

I think the point PP is making is that if you are a Canadian citizen with dual citizenship, you can't travel to Canada on a British (or other foreign) passport. You must have a Canadian passport.*

Yes, true, you must have a Canadian passport to enter Canada, but you don't need a British passport to do so. As a dual citizen you don't even need a British passport to enter the UK.

When I get my Canadian passport I probably won't bother renewing my British passport unless the rules change.

The rules changed recently - maybe three years ago? If you travel to Canada with a British passport you need a visa. It's a temporary visa called a ETA. If however you have a right to Canadian citizenship, like my children have, you can't ask for a ETA (if I put my name on the form. They can if my husband is filling in the forms under his name with his British passport). They have to have a citizenship document. It's a complicated system and has encouraged loads of Canadians living abroad and children with a different passport to apply. I think I wrote that correctly, but obviously do check before travelling as I am not an official source of information!!

QueenBlueberries
I think you're correct. I travelled to the UK and back with DS three years ago just after he got his Citizenship Certificate, but before he got his passport.
The ETA was just being introduced at the time. As he was in the system as a Canadian citizen he couldn't get an ETA. We were lucky that the ETA system was just being rolled out and were allowed to enter showing his Citizenship certificate but I was told that once ETA was fully implemented he would have to show his Canadian passport to enter Canada.

By the way, ESTA and ETA are two different things. They do the same thing but ESTA is required for the USA and ETA is required for Canada.

Go for it you can ( unless it's American and lands you with overseas taxes and all that crap) my ds has 3 passports and hopefully that will benefit him as he gets older.