I am German, my wife is a born Canadian citizen; we live in Germany.
Our son was born last August and we just applied for his citizenship certificate (since he technically is a Canadian citizen already).
We were told that one is not permitted to travel to Canada on a Foreign passport if his name is in the Canadian Citizenship Database. My son does not have his Canadian passport yet obviously, since he doesn´t have his certificate yet.
So our question is: Is his name already entered into the database, now that we applied for the certificate, hence prohibiting him to travel to Canada on his German passport?
That would be really bad for us because we are planing to visit m wife´s relatives in May in Toronto, and most likely won´t have his certificate and certainly not his Canadian passport at that point.
Or does it mean that he will be added to the database once his certificate has been approved, meaning until then he can enter Canada freely on his German passport?
My understanding is that you are in the process of applying for your child’s Canadian citizenship certificate. Currently, he is a German citizen and accordingly he can travel to Canada as any foreigner using a German passport.
Canada recognize dual citizenship, so even if he is recognized as a Canadian citizen he can always use the German passport if it is not conflicting with German laws.
Please check the link below:
You have 2 choices, you can apply for a limited validity Canadian passport, as you already have submitted for proof of citizenship or you can apply for a facilitation visa.
1.) That is correct. But we got the clear statement from the Canadian Embassy in Germany, that once he is listed in the “Canadian Citizenship Database” he can only travel to Canada using a Canadian passport, bot his German. So we wonder, WHEN is he listed into that database? AFTER reeiving the certificate, or already now WHILE we are applying for the certificate.
2.) That is -to my knowledge- not correct. If you hold two passports, you can only use the one of the country you are travelling to, when you enter that country. That knowledge does comply with the statement the Canadian Embassy gave us.
In our case when we enter Canada, we MUST use the Canadian passport, when we travel back to Germany, we MUST use the German.
My apologies for the suggestion that you can use your German passport to fly to Canada while you are a Canadian citizen (Though not sure if the child is considered a Canadian citizen or not yet in the IRCC data base). I think that PMM suggestions are worth trying.
Thank you and good luck
Lahbib
Thank you everybody for your suggestions.
I finally got an answer from the Canadian Embassy in Berlin today.
Yes, he can still use his German passport while he is waiting for his Certificate of Citizenship. BUT: as soon as he is added to the Citizenship Database, he can´t anymore. The problem is: they don´t know when he will be added; it can be right at the beginning of the process, or even after we receive the Certificate. It totally depends on the person working on the file. Therefore, there is a risk that he is already in the database, when we want to travel.
Thus, we will apply for a Canadian passport for minors, which is valid up to two years and we can apply for it, since he technically is already a Canadian citizen. All we need is proof of traveling (aka a booked flight).
For us this case is closed now. Thank you again to everybody that tried to help us.
Best Regards from Germany!
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