savannah101

Hello,
We currently live in the UK and are looking to move back to Canada permanently in about 9 months. My husband is a canadian citizen (citizen by naturalisation) and I am a permanent resident. We have a 6 year old son. We are looking to move back to Canada in June 2022. I am about to apply for proof of Citizenship for my son (he is definitely Canadian) but I have been informed that the process takes 18 months!
Is there any way to speed it up, or alternatively can we go there and apply from Canada for my son's canadian citizenship?

thank you

PMM

HI

1. He would need an ETA to travel to Canada, but it wouldn't be issued as he is a citizen.
2. You could apply for either a time limited Canadian passport or a Facilitation visa which would allow him to travel to Canada, and the proof of citizenship application would be completed.

Siouxie

As PMM mentioned above, you can apply for both Citizenship and Passport concurrently for urgent processing - see this page: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration.../urgently.html
and https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...it-canada.html
and https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...apply-how.html

or facilitation: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ion-visas.html
(I believe you will need to get a British passport for your son, for this one.. which is good to have anyway!)

savannah101

thank you PMM. We have visited Canada many times since his birth, and always entered using the eta - I didn't realise that they wouldn't issue an ETA (we visited this summer, and it was fine). But I'm wondering if we go to settle whether he would be allowed in using the ETA?

thank you Siouxie - I spoke with the canadian embassy in London , they said they would only allow for urgent processing of the Citizenship and Passport if the child is under 2 years old.

Also- we are looking at moving in 9 months, and we do not currently have job offers in canada, so we don't have tickets booked either.

christmasoompa

From the ETA application page -

"If you're a dual Canadian citizen, you must travel with a valid Canadian passport"

And from the embassy website -

"I’m a dual-citizen. Can I travel to Canada on my UK passport?

No, you must have a valid Canadian passport. As of November 2016, all Canadian citizens entering or transiting through Canada must enter on their Canadian passport. If you are travelling to Canada without enough time to obtain a new Canadian passport, you may be eligible for a special authorization. "

As you can see from above, since 2016 he shouldn't have travelled on an ETA, and you will need to get him a passport, but that can be expedited.

Assume you've maintained your PR status, you've lived with your spouse since getting it?

Good luck.

savannah101

thank you Christmasoompa - yes, I have looked at all the in the last couple of days and realised that he shouldn't have travelled on the ETA.
I don't know how to expedite the passport - the embassy told me that the processing time is 18 months for proof of Citizenship. I don't want to book tickets to move to Canada if ew don't end up being allowed to travel because of his passport.

I have maintained my PR status, thank you for checking

savannah101

And it's much easier to get job offers when we are actually in canada rather than trying to get something now for 9 months away.

I'm super confused about what to do. Clearly I should have done this earlier, but i didn't realise how difficult it all was

christmasoompa

But as above, you can request urgently processing for the proof of citizenship - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration.../urgently.html

So all you can do is try. Personally I'd be inclined to book flexible flights for less than 6 months time and apply asap (as above "Dual Canadian citizens impacted by eTA can apply for a proof of citizenship urgently. To qualify, you must: also be a citizen of a visa-exempt country, have proof of air travel to Canada within 6 months following the date of application and have applied at the same time for a citizenship certificate and a Canadian passport"), then if you get the passport back in time you can change the flights to June 2022.

Best of luck.

Ottawaytogo

Sending my sympathies, Savannah101 - could almost have written your post myself!

We're also in the UK with a similar timescale for moving (April, hopefully) with my husband a Canadian and me with (almost finalised) PR, and our son... for whom we applied for proof of citizenship in Feb 2020 and we're still waiting, *checks watch* 18 months later. At the time it said 6-8 months processing so stupidly we didn't apply concurrently for his passport.