Canadian living in US wants to give US children Canadian citizenship.

[JQS]

I am a Canadian living in the US permanently. My children are US citizens and have expressed interest in becoming Canadian. We have no immediate plans to relocate. I know I can apply for their citizenship but the applications seem to center around a requirement of living in Canada. I also know they can be dual citizens.

Does anyone know if I can obtain their citizenship while the continue to live in the US indefinitely?

 

[zardoz]

I am a Canadian living in the US permanently. My children are US citizens and have expressed interest in becoming Canadian. We have no immediate plans to relocate. I know I can apply for their citizenship but the applications seem to center around a requirement of living in Canada. I also know they can be dual citizens.

Does anyone know if I can obtain their citizenship while the continue to live in the US indefinitely?

You are presumably requiring PROOF of existing citizenship by descent. In which case, there are no residency issues.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

They don't need to "become Canadian". They are already Canadian citizens and as said above, they just need to apply for proof of citizenship.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/certif.asp

 

[scylla]

I am a Canadian living in the US permanently. My children are US citizens and have expressed interest in becoming Canadian. We have no immediate plans to relocate. I know I can apply for their citizenship but the applications seem to center around a requirement of living in Canada. I also know they can be dual citizens.

Does anyone know if I can obtain their citizenship while the continue to live in the US indefinitely?

Can you clarify how you obtained Canadian citizenship yourself? We are assuming you were born in Canada. Is that accurate?

 

[Leon]

If you were born abroad and gained citizenship based on one or both of your parents being Canadian at the time of your birth, you can not pass citizenship to your children if they were born on or after April 17 2009. If they were born between Feb 15 1977 and April 17 2009, they would have gained citizenship but as 2nd generation born abroad, they would have been under the obligation to spend some time in Canada and apply to retain their citizenship before the age of 28. However, the need to retain was abolished with the 2009 law so if they were not yet 28 by April 17 2009, they would not have needed to apply to retain anymore and would still be citizens.

If you gained your citizenship either by being born in Canada or being naturalized, regardless of whether you were naturalized as a child or as an adult, your children would be citizens. However, as first generation born abroad, they will not be able to pass citizenship to their children.

I think you have probably been looking at the wrong application forms. If your children are citizens because of you, they don't need to apply for citizenship because they already have it. They just need to apply for a certificate so they can prove it and apply for passports. You can find the forms here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/proof-how.asp

 

[JQS]

Thank you all for the great advice. I was born in Canada so it sounds as though I simply need to apply for proof of citizenship. Thanks again!

 

[zardoz]

Thank you all for the great advice. I was born in Canada so it sounds as though I simply need to apply for proof of citizenship. Thanks again!

Correct.