Obtaining Canadian citizenship as an American with Canadian grandparents

[mattaaron]

Just beginning this journey - lots of questions

My wife and I are US citizens - both in professional careers (me in Tech and her in Nursing) - we have plenty of financial stability and are in our early 50's. Wanting to move to Canada. Both fluent English speakers and my wife speaks fluent Spanish. We both have college degrees.

My maternal grandfather was born in Ottawa and my grandmother in Ontario. My grandfather became naturalized in the US (Michigan) to work in 1942. He died in the US. My grandmother remained a Canadian citizen her whole life and used a resident alien card to stay with my grandfather in the US.

I have lots of original documents including her resident alien card, my grandfathers naturalization documents, their baptismal record, marriage and death certificates etc.

So - wondering how I go about obtaining Canadian citizenship or do I pursue immigration status instead?
Does either of them require me to renounce my US citizenship?
What about my wife coming with me if I obtain citizenship?
We want to work in Canada so does either citizenship or immigration status affect that? Meaning would either require sponsorship?

Thanks in advance for advice

 

[Canuck_Morb]

There's no way for you to "obtain" Canadian citizenship. You'll have to apply like any other person wanting to immigrate here.

 

[scylla]

Just beginning this journey - lots of questions

My wife and I are US citizens - both in professional careers (me in Tech and her in Nursing) - we have plenty of financial stability and are in our early 50's. Wanting to move to Canada. Both fluent English speakers and my wife speaks fluent Spanish. We both have college degrees.

My maternal grandfather was born in Ottawa and my grandmother in Ontario. My grandfather became naturalized in the US (Michigan) to work in 1942. He died in the US. My grandmother remained a Canadian citizen her whole life and used a resident alien card to stay with my grandfather in the US.

I have lots of original documents including her resident alien card, my grandfathers naturalization documents, their baptismal record, marriage and death certificates etc.

So - wondering how I go about obtaining Canadian citizenship or do I pursue immigration status instead?
Does either of them require me to renounce my US citizenship?
What about my wife coming with me if I obtain citizenship?
We want to work in Canada so does either citizenship or immigration status affect that? Meaning would either require sponsorship?

Thanks in advance for advice

Under the current citizenship laws it doesn't sound like you would have any claim to Canadian citizenship since citizenship by descent is limited to the first generation born abroad. These rules may be changing soon. You will need to wait until these new rules are in place and determine if they benefit you.

Assuming you can get citizenship eventually, you would then need to sponsor your wife for permanent residency.

If you cannot get citizenship, applying for permanent residency through an economic immigration stream almost certainly will not be feasible due to your ages.

 

[armoured]

Just beginning this journey - lots of questions

My wife and I are US citizens - both in professional careers (me in Tech and her in Nursing) - we have plenty of financial stability and are in our early 50's. Wanting to move to Canada. Both fluent English speakers and my wife speaks fluent Spanish. We both have college degrees.

My maternal grandfather was born in Ottawa and my grandmother in Ontario. My grandfather became naturalized in the US (Michigan) to work in 1942. He died in the US. My grandmother remained a Canadian citizen her whole life and used a resident alien card to stay with my grandfather in the US.

I have lots of original documents including her resident alien card, my grandfathers naturalization documents, their baptismal record, marriage and death certificates etc.

So - wondering how I go about obtaining Canadian citizenship or do I pursue immigration status instead?
Does either of them require me to renounce my US citizenship?
What about my wife coming with me if I obtain citizenship?
We want to work in Canada so does either citizenship or immigration status affect that? Meaning would either require sponsorship?

Thanks in advance for advice

-So as noted, it's currently unlikely you'd qualify for citizenship. But see below.

-If you are interested, you should look up the so-called NAFTA / CUSMA permissions for professionals to work here. For example here: https://www.canadavisa.com/nafta-work-permits.html

My understanding is this is mostly education and work experience related. It's not a permanent residency status. I believe a spouse can also get a work permit (if eg nurses don't qualify on their own). Nursing and tech professionals usually in demand (leaving aside whether they pay is commensurate with what you're used to).

-There's currently a court case challenging some aspects of the restrictions to citizenship by descent law. Current govt hasn't passed the changes to deal with the court order. You can follow that and see. Some people are filing for citizenship now on various grounds (I won't get into that right now, but there are some very specific cases where govt is likely to grant - eg cases where someone or their parent happened to be born on the other side of the border, where hospitals few and far between, and decades later discovered that under current citizenship law, they're not Canadian).

The draft legislation seems to have been formulated to institute a 'time in Canada' test to pass on citizenship (actually not unlike US law, as I understand it). I doubt that would apply to your circumstances, if it ever passes, but who knows? (if the court ever gets tired of the govt not dealing with the deadlines and strikes it down completely, it would - hypothetically - be chaos, with no restrictions on passing on citizenship. )

My point overall being - if you're serious and move up here for work, it's possible pathways to stay permanently and/or get citizenship would open up. You can also consult lawyers and try to keep abreast of situation; I'd be cautious of those making promises that things will work out that way.

But the NAFTA professioanl visa mentioned does give a way to check out whether it even makes sense for you in an income/professional way.

 

[armoured]

-There's currently a court case challenging some aspects of the restrictions to citizenship by descent law. Current govt hasn't passed the changes to deal with the court order.

Here's the government's own update on situation - I haven't even read it yet.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...dian-citizen/eligibility/already-citizen.html

[I've now read it: doesn't say much. The operative part is that the court is still suspending operation of it's judgment (I think). I know some lawyers are helping people file requests under a slightly different procedure - urgent or special circumstances grant or some such - but my understanding is that's mostly for those who really do have special circumstances and/or have cases clearly and obviously like the couples that filed the suit that led the court to declare that part of the law unconstitutional.]

 

[canuck78]

Just a word of caution that getting jobs and working in Canada may be the easy part but given your ages it would likely be difficult to get permanent residency and citizenship via immigration programs.

 

[steaky]

Just a word of caution that getting jobs and working in Canada may be the easy part but given your ages it would likely be difficult to get permanent residency and citizenship via immigration programs.

No, getting jobs and working in Canada isn't easy. Even Canada Post is laying off its managers.

 

[canuck78]

No, getting jobs and working in Canada isn't easy. Even Canada Post is laying off its managers.

They likely qualify to work in Canada under CUMSA. Not sure how Canadapost has anything to do with this.

 

[steaky]

They likely qualify to work in Canada under CUMSA. Not sure how Canadapost has anything to do with this.

Do you think working in Canada Post is easy? Have you heard they are laying off their managers?

 

[forevermore76]

Do you think working in Canada Post is easy? Have you heard they are laying off their managers?

CUSMA is actually fairly easy compared to any other WP. And, Canada Post is a dying corporation, doesn't mean Canada's economy is dying.