Canadian nationality law
Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in Canada for at least three years while holding permanent residence and showing proficiency in the English or French language.
The rival empires competed to expand their territorial control until British victory in the Seven Years' War and annexation of French Canada in 1763.
[1] Despite the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783,[2] British presence on the continent continued to expand through the 19th century, often in contest with the United States as the two powers raced to settle the Pacific Northwest.
After Britain established marital denaturalization for British subject women who married non-British men in 1870, Canada adapted its rules to match this in 1881.
[15][16] Foreigners were able to naturalize as British subjects in Canada after residing in the Dominion for at least three years, fulfilling a good character requirement, and swearing an oath of allegiance.
[17] By 1880, Britain had transferred all of its remaining North American territory to Canada except Newfoundland Colony,[18] which became a separate Dominion in 1907.
Growing hostility and anti-Chinese sentiment led to a concerted movement within the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia to restrict Chinese immigration.
[22] When Japanese migrants started entering British Columbia in large numbers beginning in 1901, the local legislature attempted to legislate restrictions on this movement, but these measures were again struck down by the federal government in 1902, 1905, and 1907.
Dominions that adopted this Act as part of local legislation were authorised to grant subject status to aliens by imperial naturalization.
[32] By the end of the First World War, the Dominions had exercised increasing levels of autonomy in managing their own affairs and each by then had developed a distinct national identity.
[33] Women's rights groups throughout the Empire pressured the imperial government during this time to amend nationality regulations that tied a married woman's status to that of her husband.
[40] All other noncitizens could acquire citizenship by naturalization after fulfilling a general residence requirement and demonstrating proficiency in English or French.
On reaching age 21, these individuals were required to make a formal declaration of their intention to retain Canadian citizenship within one year.
Eligible minor children who had not already lawfully entered Canada when the Act became effective were subject to the same conditions for retaining Canadian citizenship on reaching age 21.
Individuals who became domiciled outside of Canada for six years, showed disloyalty to the monarch, obtained naturalization through fraudulent means, or traded with an enemy nation during a time of war were liable to have their citizenship revoked.
Combined with the approaching independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, comprehensive reform to imperial nationality law was necessary at this point to address ideas that were incompatible with the previous system.
[50][51] Non-white immigration into the UK was systemically discouraged, but strong economic conditions in Britain following the Second World War attracted an unprecedented wave of colonial migration.
[54][51] Britain somewhat relaxed these measures in 1971 for patrials, subjects whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom,[53] which gave effective preferential treatment to white Commonwealth citizens.
Individuals born abroad to unmarried Canadian fathers before 1977 could apply for citizenship during a limited application period that ended on August 14, 2004.
When applying for passports, a large number of individuals who believed themselves to be citizens discovered that they did not actually hold Canadian citizenship due to previous provisions concerning automatic loss under the 1946 Act.
Legislation enacted in 2009 addressed this issue by restoring citizenship to specific categories of individuals who had involuntarily lost that status.
Citizenship by descent is limited to only one generation born outside of the country,[73] other than children or grandchildren of members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
[79] Applicants must have filed income taxes for three of the preceding five years,[80] and those between the ages of 18 and 54 must additionally demonstrate proficiency in either the English or French language and pass the Canadian Citizenship Test.
[83] Permanent residents in the Canadian Armed Forces may alternatively fulfill the physical presence requirement with 1,095 days of completed military service during the preceding six-year period.
[84] Foreign military servicemembers attached to the CAF with an equivalent amount of completed service time are exempt from holding permanent residence or filing income taxes.
The Minister also may grant citizenship extraordinarily without any requirements to persons who are stateless, subject to "special and unusual hardship", or have made exceptional contributions to the country.
[91] Individuals who automatically acquired citizenship in 2009 or 2015 because of amendments to nationality law in those years have a special route for renunciation that only requires that they are citizens of another country and costs no fees.
[94] Citizenship may be revoked from individuals who fraudulently acquired it,[95] and renunciations may be similarly rescinded from persons who provided false information during that process.
[96][97] The Federal Court holds decision-making power for all revocation cases, except where the individual in question specifically requests the IRCC Minister to make that decision.
[101] Members of the royal family are personal subjects of the Canadian monarch and not foreigners for the purpose of diplomatic or military protocol,[102] but they fall within the definition of a foreign national unless they acquired Canadian citizenship or permanent residence[103] and there is no legal provision that grants them automatic citizenship or permanent residence.
