brandn

My wife left Canada 20 years ago but has citizenship. She has never had a Canadian passport although she is just about to apply for one and should hopefully be eligible due to her citizenship.
2 questions:
1) Presuming she gets the passport, are our kids automatically eligible? What about me as the husband?
2) I think i will have to go through the application process but will probably be ok for a passport? is that about right?

Many thanks,
Neil.

Biiiiink

If your wife was a citizen at the time she gave birth to your children, and they were born outside Canada after Feb 14th 1977, they will be citizens and need to apply for proof of citizenship ( http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/bornout-info.html ). Only after proof of citizenship can you get a passport, although London will issue a 1yr validity passport to children for a small fee whilst their proof of citizenship request is in process, as getting the citizenship cards can take some time. I think it was 4 or maybe 5mths for our son but we were told at the time it could be well over a year.

Your wife will need to sponsor you, you'll become a permanent resident, not a citizen, so no passport. See http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/sponsor/out.html for more info. You can, in time, apply to become a citizen after you've resided in Canada as a PR for the required length of time, you need to pass a test and swear an oath too.

Hth

Biiiiink