dual citizenship for adopted child

[sciencenerd 56]

My wife (CDN) and I (USC) are in the process of adopting a baby here in the states where we reside. I assumed that getting Canadian citizenship for her would be the same as it would had we had a biological child, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I've gone through all of the relevant pages on the CIC website (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/adoption/index.asp), which is fortunately pretty thorough, but I still have some questions. I don't know if anyone here has adopted and applied for citizenship for their child, but I thought I'd at least check. If you have gone through this or have knowledge of the process, I'd really appreciate your help. I feel pretty certain that we'll meet all the legal requirements for the adoption to be valid in Canada since we have worked with an agency and will have all the necessary documents (birth parents' consent, adoption decree, etc.).

Here are my main questions:

1. How long does this process take from the US. They say it will take at least 6-8 months for the two steps, but up to 2 years depending on country. We'll start Step 1 right away and hope that it is processed before our adoption is finalized (our daughter is 3 weeks old now and finalization is expected in 3-4 months). We'll then send Step 2. I can't find out how much time either of the steps take individually.

2. I am confused about whether we can visit Canada while this is all being processed. It seems totally ridiculous for us not to be able to since she is a US Citizen and will not be living in Canada any time soon. However, the site states: "Please remember: It is mandatory for a child to either have a grant of Canadian citizenship or a permanent resident visa issued by the embassy, and the necessary travel documents, before that child can be brought back to Canada." It also says: "Note: Adoptions from the United States: While a person adopted from the U.S. may not need a travel document (passport or facilitation visa) to travel to Canada, all provincial or territorial adoption requirements and Hague Convention requirements must be met, and Canadian citizenship must be granted before entering Canada." It's not clear whether this is true only if you are going to be living in Canada or for any travel to Canada. We want to introduce our daughter to her grandmother and other family in Canada as soon as we can since she can't come visit us (she has a special needs son unable to travel). It would really be a shame to keep them apart for so long when she would be able to enter Canada as an American citizen while processing the application. We just don't want to do anything that would jeopardize her Canadian citizenship.

I will contact the consulate, but wanted to check to see if anyone had gone through this process as well. Thanks.

[hikergirl 277]

I have no experience in any of this first hand but to me it looks like for now, you will only be doing the citizenship process because she will not be emigrating to Canada anytime soon.

The different pages are as clear as mud on the site you linked, but it looks to me like they are focused on people in Canada bringing a foreign adopted child to reside in Canada - not just coming to visit family with their adopted parents who reside elsewhere.

Here's a link to our border services for what they want you to have to cross the border with a child. CBSA From my experience they are a little picky when it comes to documentation, especially if your wife were to be travelling alone.

And last but not least Congratulations

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I believe you are correct. The "wait for Canadian citizenship" is if you're planning on moving there. Looks like for a visit she's just entering as a USC.

You said you've gone through the relevant pages, so I'm sure you've looked at this: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/law-citizenship.asp and then this link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/cit-adoption.asp seems pretty straight-forward to me. The 6-8 month estimate include the adoption process so I doubt the citizenship would really be that lengthy.

This here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/CIT0014E7.asp has the section you discussed about passports and it's right next to a big "Important note for adoptive parents returning to Canada with the adopted person" which I believe is to immigrate back, not visit.

I've never been through it but wanted to add my 2 cents. Congrats to you both!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Yes, the information provided by CIC is for bringing an adopted child into Canada to live, not to visit. If your US adoption is completed, then she is legally your daughter as well as a US citizen. She can enter Canada to visit based on that. You will have to provide evidence of your legal custody of the child to satisfy the Hague Convention requirements (although if both parents are present this is easy to do). Her ability to have dual citizenship with Canada probably won't even come up at the border when she enters to visit, however, you can certainly carry copies of the documents from whatever stage you are in the process as back-up. Travelling to visit her grandmother as a US citizen will not jeopardize her right to Canadian citizenship. If you decide to return to Canada to live, however, you would need to have completed her citizenship process first.

Congratulations and happy travels.

( I did participate in several overseas adoptions when I worked for the Member of Parliament so know that what is quoted above is for a child intending to live in Canada permanently).

Edited September 25, 2011 by Kathryn41

[sciencenerd 56]

thanks so much for the info! this is extremely helpful!

[sciencenerd 56]

I'm just going to post here every now and again to document this process so the next person that comes along can see how it's turned out. Just for reference: "step 1" is verifying that at least one adoptive parent was either born in Canada or is a naturalized citizen. "step 2" is verifying that the adoption itself meets all requirements for ethical international adoption - you can't send this in until step 1 is approved.

We sent in "step 1" of the application on October 4th. About 3 weeks later, we got a confirmation in the mail that they received it and it said to expect it to take 20 weeks to process the application. I don't understand how it takes close to 6 months to verify my wife is Canadian when we sent them her birth certificate - I expected step 1 to be super quick since that's all it was and for step 2 to take most of the 6-8 months they listed as a minimum time. I'm glad we're just doing this for her future and it's not something we need at any particular time. Maybe we'll make it a race to see who will have dual citizenship first (my wife is eligible for American in early 2013) - oh the things we do to entertain ourselves during these processes.

[sciencenerd 56]

Again - just updating for sake of future reference.

We got the letter approving Step 1 in the mail just before Christmas (it was dated 12/15/11), so it didn't take nearly as long as they had estimated.

It took us a while to get all the paperwork needed for step 2 (adoption judgment and certificate, both original and post-adoption birth certificates, US passport), but we finally have everything and have an appt with a notary today to finish up. The packages are all ready minus the notarizing, so it should be out in the mail today.

We'll see how long this part of the process takes, but I'm just excited since it's the very last bit of paperwork that was on our list to do after the adoption. Our daughter turns 6 months old in a few days. The only kind of sad thing is that Canada started issuing new citizenship certificates just as of 2/1/12 and they no longer have photos on them - we thought it'd be so cute to have her citizenship document have a baby photo on it. I'm not sure why they still require you to send citizenship photos when they don't use them anymore, but maybe they just haven't updated the application process to match the new certificates yet.

For reference-sake, here's our timeline for this process:

10/4/11 - sent in Step 1 application

10/25/11 - received letter of receipt

12/15/11 - approval date for Step 1

3/1/12 - send it Step 2 application

[sciencenerd 56]

I didn't expect this to be so quick, but we received notice yesterday that our daughter's citizenship has been approved! We are just now waiting for the actual certificate, but I'm so glad that we have the approval and know that she will have the ability to move freely between Canada and the US for life. I thought it would take a lot longer than it did! One thing to note for anyone else that ends up going through this process is that the online tracking system did not really track Step 2. Apparently, it's set up to track stuff within Canada (like Step 1), but Step 2 is through the Canadian embassy in the US and none of the info shows up.

Our timeline:

10/4/11 - sent in Step 1 application

10/25/11 - received letter of receipt

12/15/11 - approval date for Step 1

3/1/12 - sent in Step 2 application

4/11/12 - received approval

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Congratulations!

[Ontarkie 14,227]

Congratulations!

[gad33 47]

Congratulations