luckysue

We are both now Canadian been in Canada a long time. Both born in England and would like to move back to the UK to be closer to family as we are getting older. Does anyone know if we can just move back or what is involved in the process? Have found some information on Rev Canada website but it is a bit confusing and mostly about paying taxes on capital gains, dispositions etc. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

christmasoompa

If you’re British citizens then you can move back anytime.

Good luck.

SanDiegogirl

If you are British citizens (presume you did not relinquish your British citizenship when you obtained Canadian one) you can just move back immediately and become residents - no paperwork needed.
You'll, of course, have all the hassle of setting up again; bank accounts, getting a GP, finding accommodation etc, shipping over furniture etc, sorting out any pensions/investments you leave in Canada.

You will be immediately eligible for NHS as permanent residents,.

luckysue

Thanks, we are both actually Canadian Citizens now..

christmasoompa

But presumably you have dual citizenship, so are still British citizens as well? So as above, you can just move back.

BritInParis

You’ll only need your British passports.

SanDiegogirl

[QUOTE=luckysue;12977160]Thanks, we are both actually Canadian Citizens now..[/QUOTE.....

...... but are you also British citizens? i.e you did not relinquish your British Citizenship when you became Canadians?

SanDiegogirl

In another thread Lucky Sue says she has been in Canada since 1966 - so could she have given up her British citizenship when taking Canadian?

As far as I can make out the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1976 was the first time Canada allowed dual citizenship

scilly

We took Canadian citizenship in 1974, and I've assumed since then that we relinquished our British citizenship. Certainly we neve renewed our British passports after that year.

We never had to make any official statement about relinquishing though

SanDiegogirl

Interesting.... always understood that one had to officially action a relinquishing of citizenship - it did not just happen by default if one took a second citizenship no matter the country for the second citizenship.

However, as you took Canadian citizenship in 1974, prior to the Canadian 1976 Citizenship act, might mean you lost your British citizenship?

christmasoompa

That was only really for Canadians though, who acquired citizenship of another country and automatically lost Canadian citizenship (which was then restored under a later Act). Canada couldn't remove a foreign citizenship and my understanding is that migrants generally weren't asked about whether they'd relinquished other citizenships. BiP will correct me if I'm wrong though.

You're still British then AFAIK, if you never renounced your British citizenship or gave it up formally. It's quite a lot of paperwork to give up a citizenship so I'm sure you'd remember if you had!

BritInParis

No foreign government can remove your British citizenship so unless you formally renounced your citizenship with the Home Office after becoming Canadian citizens then you’re still British. You just need to renew your passports:

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

durham_lad

This is what our son did in 2016 in readiness to move back in 2017. He moved to the USA with us in 1987 when he was 4, became a US citizen in 1998 and after that never bothered to renew his British Passport. Consequently he had to apply as if he was a first timer, requiring long form birth certificate which we applied for and got easily enough, plus we, as his parents, also had to provide our details including our passport numbers. (He was born in 1982 so automatically has citizenship by virtue of parents being British)

BritInParis

Excellent advice save one minor correction which is if your son was born in the UK in 1982 then he would be British by virtue of his place of birth rather than his parentage.

durham_lad

True dat

We always remember applying for his first passport in 1987, which was a paper application in those days. He was a premature birth, born 6 weeks early at end of November 1982 and on the application there was a point where it said something like, “if born before 1/1/1983 then go to page x”, skipping many pages. My wife said that at least there was some benefit to being rushed into hospital very sick, c-section and all that.