Gregnsandy

Hey, a friend of mine asked me this and I really have no idea. Hope one of you can
help me out.

"I hope you can clarify for me.

After I get my US citizenship (after the 2 years), will I be able to be a dual
citizen (Canada/US)? Also, my children, although they will be born in the US, will
they have dual citizenship as well?"

Andy Platt

Your friend is mistaken about the length of time (it's three years after becoming a
permanent resident if you are married to a US citizen and five years afterwards if
not) but otherwise the answers are yes and yes.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination. "GregnSandy"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Hey, a friend of mine asked me this and I really have no idea. Hope one
of
    > you can help me out.
    >
    >
    > "I hope you can clarify for me.
    >
    > After I get my US citizenship (after the 2 years), will I be able to be a dual
    > citizen (Canada/US)? Also, my children, although they will be born
in
    > the US, will they have dual citizenship as well?"

Gregnsandy

Thanks, I think she meant thats when you apply to have the conditional status
removed, not when you actually get your citizenship.

And this is me asking now... the children, they will be dual until they are 18 at
which point they have to choose which country right? Or was this mis-info?

"Andy Platt" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Your friend is mistaken about the length of time (it's three years after becoming a
    > permanent resident if you are married to a US citizen and five years afterwards if
    > not) but otherwise the answers are yes and yes.
    >
    > Andy.
    >
    > --
    > I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination. "GregnSandy"
    > <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > Hey, a friend of mine asked me this and I really have no idea. Hope one
    > of
    > > you can help me out.
    > >
    > >
    > > "I hope you can clarify for me.
    > >
    > > After I get my US citizenship (after the 2 years), will I be able to be
a
    > > dual citizen (Canada/US)? Also, my children, although they will be born
    > in
    > > the US, will they have dual citizenship as well?"
    > >
    >

Rete

Your children will remain dual citizens of the US and Canada for their entire life. Neither the US nor Canada require their citizens to "choose" one citizen and thereby renouncing the other when they reach majority.

BTW you are a fountain of misinformation ;-))) Think you ought to stop listening to whomever it is you are talking with.

Rete

Jim Battista

"GregnSandy" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > Thanks, I think she meant thats when you apply to have the conditional status
    > removed, not when you actually get your citizenship.
    >
    > And this is me asking now... the children, they will be dual until they are 18 at
    > which point they have to choose which country right? Or was this mis-info?

No reason to think so.

"Dual citizenship" isn't a concept that countries really recognize.

Dual US/CAN citizenship just means that the US will think you're American and that
Canada will think you're Canadian. It doesn't mean that the US will admit that you're
also Canadian or that Canada will admit that you're also American.

The upshot being that there's no reason for them to tell you to pick, since neither
is going to recognize the other citizenship anyway.

--
Jim Battista A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.

Gregnsandy

Actually, Rete, I'm not talking to anyone except the people on this newsgroup, minus
a few people that know less about immigration than I do, at the stages where they
don't even know what visa they need.

How am I a fountain of misinformation? The question I needed clarified originally was
correct. The second question is the only one that was not true; that hardly qualifies
as a fountain of misinformation. And in fact, I'm pretty positive I heard that
originally on this newsgroup.

Rete

Well now Greg first you state two years to become a US citizen and then talk about choosing countries at age 18 while stating you are Canadian. You lead the NG to believe someone gave you the first piece of information and that you thought the other to be true from your knowledge. To me, that is a load of misinformation for none of it has a kernel of truth in it. If it offended you, my apologies, but you were quoting misinformation be it your own thoughts or the thoughts of others. If you found this information on this NG you were saddly mislead but I know the posters here and someone would have corrected an incorrect statement. Perhaps you didn't bother to read an entire thread or you might not have read the Rich Wales excellent webite on dual citizenship.

Dual Citizenship: http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

Rete

Gregnsandy

I just discovered that the mis-understanding I had about having to choose at age 18
actually stemmed from information that I received off of one of the sites that Rete
posted on dual citizenship.

Yes, I took it wrong, but, if a child is born in another country other than the US,
and they have a parent(adopted or by birth) who is a US citizen (by naturalization or
birth) they have dual citizenship. However, if by the time they are 18 years old,
they have never entered the US, they lose their US citizenship.

Sorry that I took this wrong, I guess I didn't go into absolute specifics because
honestly, it is a piece of information that is not that important to me, and I didn't
store every little detail about it in my brain when it doesn't even apply to me. Try
to remember this was not MY question, it was someone elses, something that doesn't
really concern me. I was just helping her out by posting it here because she was
unable to access the newsgroup herself.

I thought the point of this newsgroup was to clarify things about immigration that
you are unsure of... I don't appriciate being made to feel like I am completely
clueless and "a fountain of misinformation" just because I asked a question... after
all, that IS why this newsgroup exists, is it not?

Stephen Gallagh

    > Hey, a friend of mine asked me this and I really have no idea. Hope one of you can
    > help me out.
    >
    >
    > "I hope you can clarify for me.
    >
    > After I get my US citizenship (after the 2 years), will I be able to be a dual
    > citizen (Canada/US)?

Yes. The US naturalization oath has a renunciatory statement, but it has no effect
under Canadian law. So you will end up with both US and Canadian citizenship.

    > Also, my children, although they will be born in the US, will they have dual
    > citizenship as well?"

Yes, your children will have both US citizenship and Canadian citizenship.

One item to note. Some people may mistakenly tell you that your children will have to
choose only one citizenship when they reach a certain age. Neither Canada nor the US
has such a requirement. Your children will be able to keep both their Canadian and US
citizenships for life. In order to document your children's Canadian citizenship, you
should contact the nearest Canadian consulate after they are born. They will send you
the instructions that you must follow to have a certificate of Canadian citizenship
issued for the child. Note that this certificate is simply documentation of your
child's Canadian citizenship, not a conferral of citizenship.

Here's a very good website that discusses the US position on dual citizenship.

http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

Stephen Gallagher

Chris Moorehead

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...

    > Yes, I took it wrong, but, if a child is born in another country other than the US,
    > and they have a parent(adopted or by birth) who is a US citizen (by naturalization
    > or birth) they have dual citizenship. However, if by the time they are 18 years
    > old, they have never entered the US, they lose their US citizenship.

No, a child who obtains US citizenship by birth is a US citizen for life, unless
he/she renounces it. The child does not ever have to enter the US to keep his/her
citizenship.

However, US citizens who have not met the US "physical presence" requirement cannot
pass their US citizenship onto their children (unless said US citizen is married to
another US citizen who has lived in the US). As has been mentioned before, Rich
Wales' site is probably the best source of information on this.

Chris, married to a US/CDN dual citizen & father of another one

--
CHRISTOPHER J. MOOREHEAD Durham, NC [email protected]

Rich Wales

"GregnSandy" wrote:

> Yes, I took it wrong, but, if a child is born in another country other than the
> US, and they have a parent (adopted or by birth) who is a US citizen (by
> naturalization or birth), they have dual citizenship.

Strictly speaking, this would depend on the laws of the country in which the child
was born. There are a few countries which do =not= grant automatic citizenship to
everyone born within their borders. If an American couple were to have a child in
Switzerland, for example, the child would not have any basis for claiming Swiss
citizenship, because Swiss law grants citizenship at birth solely on the basis of
parentage (at least one parent must be Swiss). In some cases, it's even possible --
though, to be sure, not common -- that a child born outside the US to an American
parent might have no citizenship at all (i.e., he/she would be "stateless").

> However, if by the time they are 18 years old, they have never entered the US,
> they lose their US citizenship.

That's not correct -- at least, not now.

At one time, there were provisions in US law which said that a US citizen born
outside the US would lose his/her citizenship if he/she failed to spend several years
in the US before age 28. This law was repealed by Congress in 1978, though.

Rich Wales [email protected] http://www.richw.org/dualcit/ *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.

Stephen Gallagh

    > I just discovered that the mis-understanding I had about having to choose at age 18
    > actually stemmed from information that I received off of one of the sites that Rete
    > posted on dual citizenship.
    >
    > Yes, I took it wrong, but, if a child is born in another country other than the US,
    > and they have a parent(adopted or by birth) who is a US citizen (by naturalization
    > or birth) they have dual citizenship.

They MIGHT have dual citizenship (ie. citizenship of the country in which they were
born and citizenship of the US.)

Not every country grants citizenship based on birth in that country. Some countries
will only grant citizenship to a person born there if at least one parent is a
citizen or legal permanent resident of that country. Other countries don't grant
citizenship based on birthplace at all, it's based on citizenship of the parent(s).

Also, in order for a child born outside the US to receive US citizenship through a
parent or parents, there are certain physical presence or residence requirements that
must be met, before the birth, by the parent(s). And, the requirements differ
depending on whether the parents are married or not.

    > However, if by the time they are 18 years old, they have never entered the US, they
    > lose their US citizenship.

That is not correct. If the child does qualify for US citizenship through a US
citizen parent, then he keeps that citizenship for life. He never has to set foot in
the US. But, his own children born outside the US will not qualify for US citizenship
unless he meets certain physical presence requirements before they are born. The
physical presence requirement is there to stop an endless line of US citizens who
have not spend any significant time in the US.

At one time, many years ago, the US did have a requirement that a US citizen born
outside the US to US parents did have to move to the US by a certain age, in order to
keep US citizenship. But that no longer, applies.

    >
    > I thought the point of this newsgroup was to clarify things about immigration that
    > you are unsure of... I don't appriciate being made to feel like I am completely
    > clueless and "a fountain of misinformation" just because I asked a question...
    > after all, that IS why this newsgroup exists, is it not?

Absolutely. And you're not clueless. Nationality laws are complicated. They have lots
of little nuances and they've changed over many years. Some changes were legislated,
and other changes were mandated by the courts. And, no two countries has exactly the
same nationality laws. Add to that the misinformation that many people believe to be
true, and it causes misconceptions and misunderstandings.

Stephen Gallagher

TheCoach

I know this is an old thread but I am just about to begin the K1 process and was doing some research.

So I understand that as I Canadian citizen I will be able to hold dual-citizenship in the future.

My basic and naive question is: what are the benefits and downfalls of holding claim to both countries?

Thanks,

Brian

Mrtravel

TheCoach wrote:
    > I know this is an old thread but I am just about to begin the K1 process
    > and was doing some research.
    > So I understand that as I Canadian citizen I will be able to hold
    > dual-citizenship in the future.
    > My basic and naive question is: what are the benefits and downfalls of
    > holding claim to both countries?

Benefits would be the ability to use either when traveling to another
country.
So, if Iraq doesn't permit Americans in, they might permit a Canadian to
visit.
If a anti-American terrorist demands a passport from you, you might have
a better chance for survival if it isn't an American one. Being a dual
citizen also makes it easier to enter either country of citizenship
without having to worry about visas or keeping up PR status.

Inheritance taxes.. If you do NOT become a USC and your spouse dies, you
do NOT get the same exemption a USC would get on property inherited from
the spouse.

Downfalls:


If you are a citizen of the US, you are bound US laws.
For instance, if you are living in Canada and want to visit Cuba as a
tourist. If you are a US citizen or PR, you can't do that.
In some cases, you might be subject to military conscription by both
countries.

L D Jones

TheCoach wrote:
[ ... ]

    > My basic and naive question is: what are the benefits and downfalls of
    > holding claim to both countries?

There is more than one thread on this topic in the archives of this
group at

(advanced search)

You might want to have a look there for some additional info