New citizenship law of Canada

Canada’s fresh citizenship law took effect on April 17, 2009. The law reinstates or gives citizenship to a lot of people who lost it or didn’t possess it due to obsolete provisions in previous legislation. It also defends the worth of Canadian citizenship for the future by limiting citizenship by descent.

The changes implemented in new citizenship law of Canada mean that

1. A lot of people who became Canadian citizens on or after January 1, 1947, when the primary citizenship act took effect, and who after that lost their citizenship, will have their status reinstate back to the day they lost it.

2. A number of people might have lost it when they left the country. Others, who born outside Canada, may have cease to be Canadian by not taking steps to keep hold of their citizenship.

3. This law will also grant citizenship to those who have never been Canadian, but who are part of the first age group born outside Canada on or after January 1, 1947, to a Canadian parent. Their citizenship will be restored and reactivated to their date of birth.

4. With a few exceptions, the new law will limit citizenship by descent to one generation take birth outside Canada. This means that children born to Canadian parents in the first generation out of Canada will simply be Canadian at birth if:

• One of the parents was born in Canada.
• One parent became a Canadian citizen by immigrating to Canada and was later granted citizenship of Canada through naturalization.

This limit will not be applied for a child born outside Canada in the second or subsequent generations if, at the time of the child’s birth, their Canadian parent is working out of Canada for the Canadian government, a Canadian province or serving out of Canada with the Canadian armed forces.

Note: Nobody will lose his citizenship as a result of these amendments and everybody who was a Canadian citizen on April 16 will keep his citizenship. The government will go on to address exceptional cases separately and on a case-by-case basis.

Source: The official website of Canadian Immigration: http://www.cic.gc.ca