Canadians Have Any Standing?

[rwillington]

Greetings,

I'm a Canadian citizen and my mother is as well. Her grandmother was born in England.

1) Can she apply for a British passport/right of abode or anything?

2) If the answer to the above question is yes, does this enable me to obtain anything?

Thanks,

-Rob

[John]

Your mother's grandmother was undoubtedly British, and indeed British otherwise than by decent.

Your mother's mother? Born outside the UK? In which case British by decent. Which means that her children would only be British if born in the UK. If born outside the UK then those children, including your mother, would not be British.

And accordingly neither can you be .... if your mother's mother, your mother and also you were born outside the UK.

But there are others more knowledgeable about this than me. If you really want a good technical explanation, can you post details of the dates of birth, say just month and year, for your mother's grandmother, your mother's mother, your mother and also for yourself.

[rwillington]

John, thanks so much for your reply.

I was born in May 1978 (Canadian Citizen)

My Mother - March 1947 In Canada.

My Grandmother - October 1917 in Canada.

My Great Grandmother - August 1895 in London, England.


Because my mother's Grandmother was born in London, can my mother apply for anything? I understand citizenship may be a stretch but any sort of "Immigrant Landed Status"?

Thanks again,

-Rob

[John]

I don't think so, but suggest we wait for a Citizenship expert to post a detailed analysis. I suspect you will be amazed just how complicated and detailed this is!

[rwillington]

Thanks John.

In Wikipedia it notes that Canadians are Commonwealth citizens and hence are entitled to certain rights in the UK.

Commonwealth Citizenship
Under United Kingdom law, Canadians are Commonwealth citizens and hence are entitled to certain rights in the UK:

*access to the UK working holiday visa scheme
*for those with a UK born grandparent, access to the UK Ancestry Entry Clearance
*for those born before 1983 who meet the requirements, Right of Abode in the UK
*the right to vote and stand for public office in the UK

[ppron747]

I don't think so, but suggest we wait for a Citizenship expert to post a detailed analysis. I suspect you will be amazed just how complicated and detailed this is!

I'd love to be able to do some magic with smoke and mirrors after that build-up, but I fear that the answer is less than impressive!

The answer, sadly, is that no member of the family beyond UK-born GGM appears to be anything other than a Canadian citizen. Grandmother would now be a British citizen by descent if only her mother had been a man, but even then it wouldn't have gone any further.

The only prospect I can offer is that Rob's mother appears to be eligible to apply for a UK-Ancestry Visa - details here, but I cannot see how that would benefit Rob, I'm afraid...

Sorry!

[John]

Paul, thanks for posting that.

As regards the possible "Right of Abode", a read of INF 12 will show that even that is not available here .... except for grandmother born 1917! If she is still around she is say 89 years old and I suspect would not want to bother.

[Christophe]

John, thanks so much for your reply.

I was born in May 1978 (Canadian Citizen)

My Mother - March 1947 In Canada.

My Grandmother - October 1917 in Canada.

My Great Grandmother - August 1895 in London, England.


Because my mother's Grandmother was born in London, can my mother apply for anything? I understand citizenship may be a stretch but any sort of "Immigrant Landed Status"?

Thanks again,

-Rob

Your mother could apply for an ancestry visa, which gives her the right to enter the UK in order to seek and take employment, initially for a period of four years, but that is extendable assuming that she fulfils various criteria at the end of the four years. It can lead to indefinite leave to remain and ultimately to the right to apply for naturalisation after 6 years. She can also apply for this visa more than once.

That won't benefit you, unfortunately. As you are under 30 and the citizen of a Commonwealth country, you could apply for a working holiday visa, and there might be other visas that you could consider. See the website of the British High Commission in Ottawa: http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk ... 6750638423

[simar]

rwillington,
Really the desireability to move away is getting stronger in everyone's heard. Here I came to uk on hsmp visa but would like to move to canada as PR point based system ,within a year or 2 .
You can look into point system based rule too for UK.