scrubbedexpat075

Take my situation for example, i'm hopefully going to Canada for 2 years through IEC, i have no relatives from Canada, do i have to live there with PR after the 2 years for a certain amount of time before i become eligible? does the 2 years on a WHV count towards the total if you have to live there for X amount of years before becoming eligible?

My job doesn't require me to work from a specific location so it would be nice to have the option to stay in either country for however long without a time limit.

I've been looking around for info but struggled to find anything except if a parent is from Canada you are eligible.

christmasoompa

Determine your eligibility – Citizenship

At the moment, you need at least 4 years living in Canada as a PR to be eligible, but have a read up on the proposed changes to the rules as well.

HTH.

scrubbedexpat075

not sure how i missed that page, thanks for the instant reply!

so including the IEC it's at least 6 years at the moment.

Do many british citizens that move to Canada apply for dual citizenship? Just wondered if it's a common thing or not

christmasoompa

Yes, I would think most do - certainly the majority on the forum at least are dual nationals. It's just the next step after being a PR for so long I guess, to know that you have dual nationality and have the right to vote etc.

magnumpi

We did and I am guessing lots on here do. For a start it's easier to just get a passport every 10 years (not that u need one if not travelling) than filing forms for PR every 5 years. Makes travel that much easier.

Also it's just nice to have citizenship of the country you choose to live

Snowy560

Of course for some people they have to choose if it means that by becoming a Canadian citizen they have to give up their birth citizenship. They may choose to remain PRs (and often do). UK citizens aren't faced with that kind of choice.

MarylandNed

My wife and I became Canadian citizens probably because we thought we were going to stay there long term. Ironically, leaving Canada has made us appreciate our Canadian citizenship even more. We have the ability to return to Canada at any time and we were able to pass Canadian citizenship on to our youngest 2 kids who were born outside Canada.

We now live in the US and became US citizens. One of the cons of being a USC is that you're liable to file US tax returns regardless of where you live in the world. At least Canada does not have that requirement.

Davita

Snowy has a good point. Better make sure your original citizenship allows dual nationality.
I'm from UK and my wife from Indonesia....20+ years ago Indonesia wasn't even on our radar as a place to live so we both became Canadians. I became dual UK/Canada and she had to lose her Indonesian citizenship.
We now live in Bali, Indonesia.... where she is seen legally as a foreigner and has to apply for a visa just like myself.
She can recover her Indonesian citizenship after residing 7 years but would then have to rescind being Canadian...she will not do that.
A Canadian passport is well respected.

SchnookoLoly

My husband is British and will qualify for his Canadian citizenship next year (unless the rules change before then, he's got 3 years under his belt already). He will certainly be applying. It's just easier not to have to bother renewing the PR card every 5 years, he can vote, and when we go to the US he doesn't have to get an ESTA and get fingerprinted.

We met while I was living in the UK, and we actually lived in separate countries for a few months while I qualified and applied for my British citizenship. (Just the way dates fell, if I'd moved with my husband I'd have moved 3 weeks before qualifying for British citizenship, which just seemed silly.) At the time, a lot of people asked me why I bothered applying for British citizenship since I had Portuguese citizenship, so since I had EU citizenship, why did I bother? I just said that between Portugal getting booted out of the EU, or the UK leaving the EU, I didn't want to take the chance, would rather just have the British passport and have that security. That was back in 2013, and people laughed at me. Check out how that turned out now!!

So yeah, I'd say it's worth applying for if you qualify, especially since, as Snowy said, you don't have to worry about renouncing any other citizenships in order to get it.

beckiwoo

One of the many reasons I will be going for citizenship in 4 years time. The having to wait in line, pay the I-94 fee and get questions gets annoying.

I dont mind about the ESTA though as that last 2 years but the land borders are a pain

Snowy560

Yes even if you get NEXUS as a PR you still have to do the i94 thing if you are a Brit. However, it is quicker in the office as there is a different queue for NEXUS holders.

beckiwoo

Good to know as I believe I am eligible for Nexus after September this year.

Former Lancastrian

Not at all land border crossings so choose wisely

Snowy560

Good to know! Don't go to the US much. Becki and I prob likely to go through same border crossing!

Gozit

Correct me if i'm wrong but is your husband not a US citizen as well? (Or did he renounce?)