Lost Canadians

A number of persons have lost their Canadian citizenship as a result of outdated regulations. These persons are oddly referred to as “lost Canadians” under the newly passed citizenship act of 2009.

The majority of “lost Canadians” were Canadian at birth, or had a parent who was a Canadian, and inadvertently lost status as a result of a marriage or of being born outside Canada.

For instance, in the “old days”, a Canadian woman who married a US citizen could not pass on her Canadian citizenship to her children. The children adopted the father’s citizenship. Conversely, a child born of unmarried parents could only adopt the mother’s citizenship.

Another example of a lost Canadian occurs at birth. A generation ago, a Canadian parent had to declare and register their Canadian child when born outside of Canada before a certain deadline. Initially, a Canadian parent had a year from birth to register before missing the opportunity for dual citizenship (in the case of US and Canadian situations).

Finally under the new citizenship act of 2009, the deadline was entirely removed. However, under the same act, it was decreed that a parent could only pass his Canadian citizenship to one generation if born outside of Canada. A Canadian born outside of Canada, therefore, cannot pass on his Canadian citizenship if his child is also born outside of Canada.

Our firm may be able to retroactively apply for your Canadian citizenship at birth under the revised Citizenship Act of 2010. If you are not a Canadian citizen but happen to have a father or mother born or naturalized in Canada, you may be eligible to apply for citizenship as a “lost Canadian”.