Perhaps of help to 2nd generation
March 22, 2012 in Uncategorized
My French grandmother’s family in Canada goes back to the 1630s. My grandfather was First Nations, born outside of Winnipeg. My mother was born in Canada in 1911. Later she moved to the US and in 1930 married a US citizen. After I was born, she became a US citizen. In 2011, my application for my Canadian citizenship certificate was denied. I was told that my mother had lost her status as a British subject when she married my father. She not only was “never a Canadian citizen,” but also was stateless for over 20 years. Had it been my father who was born in Canada and married a US citizen, I would have my Canadian citizenship certificate in hand today.
Lynton (Bill) Stewart said on July 28, 2012
Unfortunately, the mother in this case was bound by the laws of Great Britain at the time she left Canada. She quite literally lost her citizenship, the moment she got married. Because she was no longer a British Subject, she could not have become a Canadian Citizen in 1948.
Those of us born prior to 1948 held British Citizenship for many years, until Great Britain changed their citizenship rules in 1981.
In order for a woman in these circumstances to be able to pass on Canadian Citizenship, there would have to be a law that retroactively granted her Canadian citizenship. As it stands, she has no citizenship, other than USA citizenship, to pass on to anyone.