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Canada: Information on whether a person born in Jamaica in 1970 of a Canadian father and a Jamaican mother is entitled to Canadian citizenship

According to a nationality law adviser at Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada, the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1 January 1947 allows a person born in a foreign country of a Canadian father and a foreign mother to become a Canadian citizen by registration provided the parents were legally married when he/she was born (22 Oct. 1993). In this particular case, this provision would not apply to a person whose parents decided to marry after his/her birth (ibid.). However, in the case where an individual is born abroad of a Canadian mother and a non-Canadian father, his or her parents are not required to be married before he or she is born in order for him or her to receive Canadian Citizenship (ibid.). The legal adviser futher indicated that although the Citizenship Act of 15 February 1977 does not contain any provision requiring marriage of the parents in cases where one of the parents is not a Canadian national, the new law is not retroactive to those persons born before it came into effect.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference

Canada. Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada. 22 October 1993. Telephone interview with a nationality law adviser.

Topics: Right to a nationality,