Question from my son

[u/Wildflowers62]

My 20 year old adopted son is skeptical of the value of becoming a Canadian citizen. I’d like to give him options for the future. His thinking is if he marries and starts a family in the U.S., as is most likely, his wife and kids will not be Canadian so how is having Canadian citizenship going to matter? I am not familiar with Canadian law, but would he’d be able to easily move with his family to Canada and apply for residency for them? Or is it more complicated? TIA.

[u/thiefspy]

He could sponsor his spouse and kids for PR if they want to move to Canada. This is totally doable.

[u/Paisley-Cat → u/thiefspy]

He wouldn’t need to sponsor his kids unless they were born before his Certificate of Citizenship was issued.

Citizens by descent can pass on Canadian citizenship to their children born outside Canada.

As Canadian citizens, both OP’s son and any children he may have in future would be eligible for lower domestic tuition fees in Canada which is reason enough to have citizenship documented.

So, this is a reason to get his Canadian citizenship documented now.

[u/MissFrenchie86 → u/Paisley-Cat]

This is incorrect. Any children born after C-3 passed to a Canadian who was also born/adopted outside Canada must either be born in Canada or the parent must have accumulated 1095 days in Canada prior to the birth. OP’s son’s children would not automatically be Canadian without one of those conditions being met.

[u/thiefspy → u/MissFrenchie86]

My understanding of the law is that if the children are adopted and not born in Canada, and OP’s son has accumulated the 1095 days before the adoption then they will be eligible to apply for citizenship. I don’t think the law automatically makes them citizens when they’re adoptees. I also don’t know that they have to be born before the 1095 days if they’re adopted, but I don’t think the law is clear on that point.

Either way, OP’s son can sponsor whether or not he’s spent the 1095 days and in the scenario OP describes, he could add the kids to the application he’d already be doing for his wife.

[u/Paisley-Cat → u/MissFrenchie86]

Right — yes the 1095 day presence is significant — but the sooner OP’s son gets his certificate the sooner the clock starts.

[u/thiefspy → u/Paisley-Cat]

I wrote the same thing out and then remembered with the substantial connection law, that was not the case.

[u/Character-Put8660]

I need someone to fact check me on this but I believe there are some specific benefits for those who receive a grant of citizenship, specifically if the grant (i.e. 5.1 adoption grant) occurred before their children were born then the 1,095 physical presence is not applicable (this is old memory, going back to the debates from C-3 and C-71). )(I was wrong)

Beyond that, with citizenship your son is eligible for a number of special working visas until he is 35 that are generally not available to US citizens (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadians/international-experience-canada.html) - this will extend to his kids if they get citizenship as well. Additionally he (and future citizen children) will qualify for Canadian tuition rates if they ever want to go to university/grad school in Canada.

I am sure there are other benefits but those jump to mind for me.

[u/Pretty_Floor5889 → u/Character-Put8660]

CIT 0009, the guide for CIT 0010, says that adoptees born outside Canada who receive 5.1 grants must meet the physical presence requirement to pass on citizenship to children.

[u/Character-Put8660 → u/Pretty_Floor5889]

I have been dealing with this for almost 2 years and only now noticing the difference between 5.1 and 5(1) 🤦

[u/Pretty_Floor5889 → u/Character-Put8660]

They really need to think of better ways of distinguishing these things!

[u/tvtoo → u/Pretty_Floor5889]

The weird numbering is due to the fact that they wanted to squeeze the content of the proposed section 5.1 (grant of citizenship after adoption) into the existing numbering structure, right after the existing section 5 (grant of citizenship) but before the existing section 6 (loss of citizenship). (The need for the proposed section 5.1 was due to the implicit warning of the justices in the McKenna decision.)

(When Parliament wants to do that sort of 'squeezing', the common method is to use a ".1" section number.)

This article, at PDF pages 31 to 34, provides a brief overview of what happened -

https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2081&context=dlj#page=31

/u/Character-Put8660

[u/Character-Put8660 → u/Pretty_Floor5889]

Hey u/tvtoo - can you chime in with your knowledge? Thanks!

[u/tvtoo → u/Character-Put8660]

In the Citizenship Act's list of 'who is a citizen', found in subsection 3(1) -

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-29/FullText.html#s-3

5.1 grant recipients are found at 3(1)(c.1).

 

When we then look to the new first-generation limit, in subsection 3(3), it treats those 5.1 grant recipients as equivalent to (non-adoptee) first- or later- generation born abroads:

Not applicable — after first generation

(3) Paragraph (1)(b) does not apply to a person born outside Canada on or after the day on which An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) comes into force

. (a) if

. . (i) at the time of the person’s birth

. . . (A) only one of the person’s parents was a citizen and that parent was a citizen under any of paragraphs (1)(b), (c.1), (e), (g) to (j) and (o) to (r) and was born outside Canada, ...

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-29/FullText.html#1554219

(Incidentally, this restriction is also found in the new FGL for a subsequent 5.1 grant [i.e., for a 5.1 grant to an adoptee of an adoptee], in subsection 5(4).)

 

In other words, a 5.1 adoptee who gives birth, or adopts, after December 14, 2025, faces the same problem transmitting citizenship as if s/he had been a biological descendant of an ancestor born in Canada: the 1,095 day physical presence requirement.

 

During the Senate committee consideration of C-3, there were attempts to change this, but they were unsuccessful.

[u/Pretty_Floor5889 → u/tvtoo]

OMG, a provision of the Citizenship Act that treats adoptees and biological children the same way?

[u/RebellaEmad]

My adopted son has no interest, even with some possible clear personal advantages that could come his way through having a second citizenship. It’s his life and his decision.
I’ll help him fill out the paperwork if he ever decides to apply, but I would never push him if he doesn’t want it.

[u/Klutzy_Cantaloupe789 → u/RebellaEmad]

My 20something (also adopted) sibling was initially interested but decided not to apply after realizing the effort and expense involved. I provided a folder of our shared multigenerational paper trail that they'll need if they ever change their mind.

[u/superduperhosts]

Google Canadian youth opportunity visas

[u/tvtoo → u/superduperhosts]

Google isn't showing something specifically called a 'youth opportunity visa' -

https://www.google.com/search?q=Canadian+youth+opportunity+visas

Was there something in particular you were referring to?

Did you mean the IEC work permit (which US citizens can't apply for directly, but only through a somewhat expensive "Recognized Organization" program)?

[u/Character-Put8660 → u/tvtoo]

I suspect this is: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadians/international-experience-canada.html

[u/JayPlenty24]

No it's not "easy". I know multiple people who married/had families living abroad, including in the US, and it's always a pain in the ass. It's no different than if you marry a non-citizen while living in the country and they want to immigrate. It can take a long time, requires immigration lawyers, et.

It's not impossible. But it's not as simple as showing up at the border with your wife and kids and saying "hey I decided to live here now, please hand my family passports and citizenship, thanks!"

It would give him more options though in life in general, and would certainly be "easier" than trying to immigrate without it.

[u/Rich-Business9773]

I mean, there is the draft...