Canada simplifies citizenship for children adopted overseas

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has announced a new amendment to Canadian citizenship laws that will streamline the process of obtaining citizenship for children adopted abroad by Canadian parents. This amendment, known as Bill C-14, has become effective December 23, 2007.

Bill C-14 will actually remove those interim measures on Adoption that was implemented in July 2001 as a means for foreign-born children adopted by Canadian parents living outside Canada to acquire citizenship. Under this temporary solution, adoptive parents first had to apply to sponsor the child to come to Canada, then seek permanent resident status for him or her, before finally applying for citizenship for their adopted child. This process took up to 18 months to complete.

Now, for the children adopted abroad after February 14, 1977, Canadian parents can skip the first two steps and apply directly for their adopted child's citizenship through the appropriate Canadian government office outside of Canada. The child can even obtain a Canadian passport before entering Canada. This reduces the necessary paperwork considerably as the steps are merged into one, and minimize the difference in treatment between children adopted abroad and children born abroad to a Canadian parent.

To protect the best interests of the adopted child, Bill C-14 also entails some legislative requirements to ensure that the adoption conforms with both the adoption laws of Canadian province or territory of residence of the adoptive parent and the country where adoption took place.

However, Bill C-14 has some exceptions. This applies to the cases where the adoption is to be completed in Canada, or if it is a guardianship arrangement rather than a full adoption. In these situations, the adopted child may still have to go through the regular immigration process.

Bill C-14 is part of those broader efforts of Canada’s Conservative government that was announced in May 2006 by the Prime Minister Stephen Harper to smooth bureaucracy for new immigrants.