gaining citizenship then moving home?
 

Hello wise people,
We have been living in Vancouver for 6yrs and now we have 2 Canadian babies. My question is, is there an issue with us gaining citizenship and then moving back to the UK??

Re: gaining citizenship then moving home?
 

Yes, given that one of the recent changes to the Citizenship Act was that applicants now have to 'declare their intention to reside in Canada'.

So if you are planning on leaving straight after getting citizenship, you wouldn't be able to make that declaration truthfully.

HTH.

Re: gaining citizenship then moving home?
 

No. Both the UK and Canada permit dual nationality so there's no problem in holding both citizenships concurrently and with two Canadian citizen children it would be a wise thing to keep that door open for you in future.

Re: gaining citizenship then moving home?
 

It's a potential issue but possibly a very weak issue. Intent is very hard to prove unless, for example, an applicant has already bought a plane ticket or is staying in temporary accommodation (e.g. a hotel) prior to becoming a citizen and then leaves the country shortly afterwards.

The immigration minister does have the power to revoke citizenship if it can be proved that an application contained "false representations" but no one is actually going to be checking up to see if new citizens have left the country.

The key thing here is that intent only applies at the time of the application - although probably also up to and including the actual citizenship ceremony. Canadian citizens (naturalized or otherwise) with a few obvious exceptions (e.g. those in prison) are free to leave Canada at any time. So new citizens shouldn't feel that they have to remain in Canada. However, intent is just a state of mind unless there is something else that can be used to reasonably demonstrate intent. I agree that they should honestly intend to reside in Canada at the time they apply for and obtain citizenship but leaving Canada shortly after becoming a citizen is highly unlikely to be an issue for anyone.

Having said that, you can't predict the future and therefore would want to make it as hard as possible for some government jobsworth to prove that your intent prior to becoming a citizen was to leave Canada soon after becoming a citizen. This means not doing things like making travel arrangements, quitting your job, closing bank accounts, selling possessions, etc. until a reasonable amount of time after obtaining citizenship. Different people will have their own interpretation of "reasonable amount of time".

I went through a similar scenario in the US after obtaining my employment based green card. Applicants are expected to intend to remain working for the sponsoring employer. Again, intent is hard to prove and there is no defined amount of time that the employee must remain with the employer. Obviously the same principles I stated above still apply i.e. don't engage in actions that prove your intention to leave your sponsoring employer as soon as you obtain your green card. It was difficult for me because my employer was losing employees and clients over an extended period of time. I stayed for as long as I could after obtaining my green card but eventually left 5 months later after the project I was working on was also lost. My employer was eventually bought out by another company and that office has now been closed.

Re: gaining citizenship then moving home?
 

New Zealand brought in the intent to reside clause to citizenship a number of years ago. As far as I'm aware the number of Citizenships removed are tiny, usually the result of some criminal activity bringing the individual to the attention of the authorities combined with some very obvious concrete plans to leave before citizenship obtained.

Circumstances change very rapidly so why not apply for citizenship as it keeps your options open unless (imo) you have 100% definitely decided to leave Canada for ever.