Millions of Americans who have a Canadian parent, grandparent, or even a great-grandparent, will be eligible to apply for citizenship under a new law.
Second citizenship is an excellent asset for anyone to have, as it gives access to additional options for financial planning, real estate, education, and consular support abroad with potentially extra visa-free travel.
Back dated to December 15th, Canada’s new citizenship law puts it in line with several European countries that allow one to use family records or genealogical charts to prove familial ties to a country.
Filing the new form costs less than $100, but experts suggest that for people seeking to prove a connection to a distant ancestor, an attorney specializing in such applications may be recommended.
Reporting on the citizenship change, which will render millions of Americans potential Canadians-in-waiting, AP spoke with Maureen Sullivan, of Naples, Florida, who had a Canadian grandfather.
“When I first heard about the bill, I couldn’t believe it. It was like this little gift that fell in my lap,” Sullivan said.
“There was kind of this collective excitement amongst the (family) who just felt like, we wanted to feel like we were doing something to take care of our security in the future if needed.”
The website for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship office has seen a flood of requests already, with 56,000 total cases outstanding. This backlog means any request can take up to 10 months to fulfill. The agency says that from December 15th to January 31st, it confirmed citizenship by descent for 1,480 people, not all of whom were American.
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“My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list,” Zack Loud, of Farmington, Minnesota, told AP.
Over a dozen European countries will grant citizenship according to descent, though more than one will require the grandparent in question to have maintained their citizenship at the time of the applicant’s birth. In other words, arriving on Ellis Island is often not an acceptable standard.
In some cases like Hungary, language proficiency is required.
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