Andrew Miller

1. Getting Canadian citizenship will not result in loss of US citizenship,
unless you obtain Canadian one with the intention of relinquishing US
citizenship.

2. Process doesn't require you to be in Canada at all. If your
spouse/sponsor is a Canadian citizen then he may start sponsoring you while
you are both still in US, providing that he declares his intention to move
back to Canada once you are granted a PR visa.

Once you get your visa and land as a PR in Canada then you must meet
residency obligations (730 days in Canada in every 5 years period) to
maintain your PR status. Days of absence from Canada while accompanying a
spouse who is a Canadian will count as days of presence in Canada for the
purpose of maintaining PR status.

But it won't help you in becoming eligible for citizenship - those days of
absence will not count towards meeting residency requirement (currently
1,095 days within 4 years prior to citizenship application).

--

../..

Andrew Miller
Immigration Consultant
Vancouver, British Columbia
email: [email protected]
(delete REMOVE from the above address before sending email)
________________________________


"Madelon Mottet" wrote in message
news:1055354777.403572@prawn...
    > I am a US citizen married to a Canadian. We intend to live primarily in
the
    > United States, but have a business that will eventually also operate in
    > Canada.
    > We want to have the long-term flexibility of being able to work together
on
    > projects in either country, and it would be ideal if we could both
    > eventually end up as dual citizens. I understand the process that will let
    > my husband become a dual citizen, but am not sure that we can make it
happen
    > for me.
    > I have two questions.
    > 1. Can a US citizen become a dual citizen of Canada? Does the process of
    > becoming a Canadian citizen mean that I lose my US citizenship?
    > 2. The process of me getting a Permanent Resident visa seems to require
that
    > I spend 6 months in Canada and that I cannot work during this period. Is
    > there any way I can bypass either of these inconveniences (being in Canada
    > for 6 months and not being allowed to work)?
    > (I understand that once I have the Canadian permanent resident visa, I do
    > not have to live in Canada to retain the visa as long as I am living with
my
    > Canadian husband.)

Rich Wales

Madelon Mottet wrote:

> Can a US citizen become a dual citizen of Canada?
> Does the process of becoming a Canadian citizen
> mean that I lose my US citizenship?

Short answer: Yes. No.

Longer answer:

It is, indeed, possible for a US citizen to become a Canadian
citizen without thereby losing his/her US citizenship.

Canada does not require its new citizens to renounce or get
rid of their old citizenship (or citizenships). And the US's
current policy is basically to ignore foreign naturalization
of US citizens, unless a person goes out of his/her way to
approach US consular officials and makes it explicitly plain
that it was his/her intention to give up US citizenship as a
part of the process of acquiring a foreign citizenship.

For an official Canadian government description of the Canadian
view on dual citizenship, see:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/dualci_e.html

Information on the US situation can be found on my web site
(http://www.richw.org/dualcit/). The last section of this
site contains links to various US State Dept. web pages on
the subject.

Note that neither Canada nor the US will think of you as being
in any special category called "dual citizen". Canada will
view you as a Canadian citizen, and the US will view you as a
US citizen, and neither country will care about what the other
country (or any other country in the world) might think about
your status.

Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org
*NOTE: I've lived in both Canada and the US and have dual citizenship.
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.

Madelon Mottet

I am a US citizen married to a Canadian. We intend to live primarily in the
United States, but have a business that will eventually also operate in
Canada.

We want to have the long-term flexibility of being able to work together on
projects in either country, and it would be ideal if we could both
eventually end up as dual citizens. I understand the process that will let
my husband become a dual citizen, but am not sure that we can make it happen
for me.

I have two questions.
1. Can a US citizen become a dual citizen of Canada? Does the process of
becoming a Canadian citizen mean that I lose my US citizenship?

2. The process of me getting a Permanent Resident visa seems to require that
I spend 6 months in Canada and that I cannot work during this period. Is
there any way I can bypass either of these inconveniences (being in Canada
for 6 months and not being allowed to work)?

(I understand that once I have the Canadian permanent resident visa, I do
not have to live in Canada to retain the visa as long as I am living with my
Canadian husband.)

Northernligths25

I'll trust the advise of Rich rather than Andrew.

    >Subject: Re: US then Canada - is dual citizenship possible?
    >From: [email protected] (Rich Wales)
    >Date: 6/11/03 3:31 PM Atlantic Daylight Time
    >Message-id:
    >Madelon Mottet wrote:
    > > Can a US citizen become a dual citizen of Canada?
    > > Does the process of becoming a Canadian citizen
    > > mean that I lose my US citizenship?
    >Short answer: Yes. No.
    >Longer answer:
    >It is, indeed, possible for a US citizen to become a Canadian
    >citizen without thereby losing his/her US citizenship.
    >Canada does not require its new citizens to renounce or get
    >rid of their old citizenship (or citizenships). And the US's
    >current policy is basically to ignore foreign naturalization
    >of US citizens, unless a person goes out of his/her way to
    >approach US consular officials and makes it explicitly plain
    >that it was his/her intention to give up US citizenship as a
    >part of the process of acquiring a foreign citizenship.
    >For an official Canadian government description of the Canadian
    >view on dual citizenship, see:
    > http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/dualci_e.html
    >Information on the US situation can be found on my web site
    >(http://www.richw.org/dualcit/). The last section of this
    >site contains links to various US State Dept. web pages on
    >the subject.
    >Note that neither Canada nor the US will think of you as being
    >in any special category called "dual citizen". Canada will
    >view you as a Canadian citizen, and the US will view you as a
    >US citizen, and neither country will care about what the other
    >country (or any other country in the world) might think about
    >your status.
    >Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org
    >*NOTE: I've lived in both Canada and the US and have dual citizenship.
    >*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
    > or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
    > are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.