I talked to John (McKilligan) last week and he said sometimes you do not have time to answer emails, so I thought in the off chance you did not receive this, I would give it one more try in hopes you do have time. "I am hoping that you have an answer to this question. Our son was born in the U.S., both parents are Canadian citizens with a green card. We have lived and worked here since 1971. Our son is now 18 and I have heard he has to choose to be a citizen of either Canada or U.S. I have also heard that he can keep both citizenships, remaining dual indefinetely. Which is correct? He may be travelling abroad this summer, so the 2nd part of the question is, does he apply for a U.S. passport or Canadian passport? He would be leaving and returning from U.S. I would be 99.9% sure he will remain in the U.S. and work here when he finishes college, as he has lived here all his life." Again, thank you for your time. BXXXXXX xxxxxxxx _______________________________ david ingram replies: It would have been 10 x's easier for you to get his Canadian Citizenship and passport BEFORE he turned 18. However, the following Q & A will give you an idea what to do and where to go for your answer. (Call Ernest Smith at (902) 564-7825.) And Good luck. Your son should have the benefit of both passports . ------------------------------------ And, as usual, Donald Cameron former Canadian Consul in Seattle has the last word on this subject. He also adds an interesting phone number which I did not have before. Thanks also to Dan B who wrote with similar but shorter information. -----Original Message----- From: Donald Cameron [mailto:cameron at lightspeed.ca] Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 12:11 PM To: taxman at centa.com Subject: Re: Canadian mother's son wants Canadian citizenship through Consulate in New York - ask an international income tax, immigration and real estate expert - David Ingram 's CENTA Services Group in West Vancouver BC Canada David, There are 2 solitudes at CIC - and the problems of one do not affect the other. In other words, delays in citizenship application processing have NOTHING to do with immigration processing delays. Citizenship matters outside of Canada are NOT handled by the Citizenship & Immigration Canada employees at Canadian Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates. They are actually handled by employees of the Department of Foreign Affairs in the consular sections (not the immigration sections) of the Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates. These Foreign Affairs employees have no decision making authority over citizenship applications and merely forward the pieces of paper to the CIC Case Processing Centre conveniently located in Sydney, Nova Scotia (the riding of Deputy Prime Minister Allan MacEachern when the office was moved there). Some Foreign Affairs consular employees make an effort to advise applicants if they think their citizenship applications could benefit from more supporting documents before they send them on to Sydney. Other employees do not. In any case, they have no control over the decision on the application or over how long it will take. In consequence, badgering them is a complete waste of time and effort. Applicants may, of course, telephone the office in Sydney. The guy in charge is Ernest Smith and his telephone number is (902) 564-7825. Applicants may also phone the CIC Call Centres in Canada. However, the CIC internal audit of the Call Centres' responses to the questions they are asked shows that there is a good chance that applicants' questions will be incorrectly answered. Best regards, Don ----- Original Message ----- From: centapede-admin at lists.centa.com To: CENTAPEDE Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 1:15 AM Subject: Canadian mother's son wants Canadian citizenship through Consulate in New York - ask an international income tax, immigration and real estate expert - David Ingram 's CENTA Services Group in West Vancouver BC Canada My son applied for Canadian citizenship in May of last year. He applied at the new York consulate in New York city. They told him it will take him from three to six months. His mother is a Canadian living in the US with a green card . The consular agent can't say how long it will take . After numerous phone calls they finally told him that they need his mothers parents US citizen papers proving that they became US citizen's after 1977. The question is why is this taking so long and why can't my son contact the Nova Scotia processing center by phone or email. The only way helot any response from the consulate is by constantly badgering them this seems a bit ridiculous. ----------------------------------------------------- david ingram replies: The answer is simple. The three to six months time was limit was a reasonable projection at the time. Then, In June last year, The Supreme Court of Canada reinstated some 300,000 applications which had been turned down under a different set of rules. NO extra staff were added. In addition another 800,000 people lined up to get a new PR (permanent resident) card LATE. The announcement had been out for three years that the deadline was Jan 1, 2004. However, almost everyone waited to the last minute and it totally wrecked the system because every application seemed to take two times as long as they were expected to. I make my living filling out forms and almost every one I did came back at least once for something that I considered silly but the CIC considered very important. An example is their request for details of your son's grandparents' US Naturalization and is explained by another Q & A you should have received before this one. Therefore, the net result was that every other application was shoved back another year or more. For instance, a year ago, we expected new applications through Buffalo to take less than a year. Yesterday, Vancouver's dean of Canadian immigration Don Cameron (former Canadian Consul in Seattle) notified me that Buffalo's processing time is now 20 to 25 months. Don's email is cameron at lightspeed.ca if you wanted to hire him to try and speed up your son's application. He has worked within the system at a very senior level and used to write the government's newsletter on the subject. Other than that, your son will just have to wait. Badgering the consulate will just slow down everyone's application. I am actually surprised at how fast most of their paperwork is coming back under the adjusted circumstances. Hope the reason helps you understand what is happening. ======================================== Answers to this and other similar questions can be obtained free on Air every Sunday morning. Every Sunday at 9:00 AM on 600AM in Vancouver, Fred Snyder of Cartier Partners and I will be hosting an INFOMERCIAL but LIVE talk show called "ITS YOUR MONEY" Those outside of the Lower Mainland will be able to listen on the internet at www.600AM.com Local phone calls to (604) 280-0600 - There is a provincial long distance line as well and old shows are archived at the site. This from ask an income tax immigration planning and bankruptcy expert consultant guru or preparer from www.centa.com or www.jurock.com or www.featureweb.com. Canadian David Ingram deals daily with tax returns dealing with expatriate: multi jurisdictional cross and trans border expatriate gambling refunds for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Egypt, Antarctica, Japan, China, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Georgia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii, Florida, Montana, Morocco, Israel, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Bangkok, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada,, Virgin Islands, US, UK, GB, American and Canadian and Mexican and any of the 43 states with state tax returns, etc. income tax wizard wizzard guru advisor advisors experts specialist specialists consultants taxmen taxman tax woman planner planning preparer of Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California Denver Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware District of Columbia Miami Florida, Garland Georgia, Honolulu Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana Des Moines Iowa Kansas Kentucky, Louisiana Bangor Maine Maryland Boston, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon. Paris, Rome, Sydney, Australia Hilton Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Rockwall, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec City, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Yukon and Northwest and Nunavit Territories, Mount Vernon, Eumenclaw, Coos Bay and Dallas Houston Rockwall Garland Texas Taxman and Tax Guru and wizzard wizard - David Ingram's US/Canada Services US/Canada/Mexico Tax Immigration & working Visa Specialists US / Canada Real Estate Specialists 4466 Prospect Road North Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V7N 3L7 Calls accepted from 10 AM to 10 PM 7 days a week Res (604) 980-3578 Cell (604) 657-8451 Bus (604) 980-0321 davidingram at shaw.ca www.centa.com www.david-ingram.com Disclaimer: This question has been answered without detailed information or consultation and is to be regarded only as general comment. Nothing in this message is or should be construed as advice in any particular circumstances. No contract exists between the reader & the author and any and all non-contractual duties are expressly denied. All readers should obtain formal advice from a competent financial, or real estate planner or advisor & appropriately qualified legal practitioner, tax or immigration specialist in connection with personal or business affairs such as at www.centa.com. If you forward this message, this disclaimer must be included." income tax, real estate RRSP IRA RESP 401K & immigration experts david ingram & mutual funds expert Fred Snyder on CKBD 600AM Sundays at 9:00 AM www.600am.com international preparers consultants preparer consultant Answers to this and other similar questions can be obtained free on Air every Sunday morning. Every Sunday at 9:00 AM on 600AM in Vancouver, Fred Snyder of Dundee Wealth Management and I, David Ingram host a LIVE talk show called "ITS YOUR MONEY" Those outside of the Lower Mainland will be able to listen on the internet at www.600AM.com <http://www.600am.com/> Local calls are taken at (604) 280-0600 and Long Distance calls (BC only) are taken at 1( 866) 778-0600 Callers to the show are invited to attend free seminars on financial planning with such specialities as deductible mortgage interest. They are held at Fred Snyder's Office at 1764 West 7th in Vancouver - (604) 731-8900 for more information. ========================================= This from "ask an income tax and immigration expert" from www.centa.com <http://www.centa.com/> or www.jurock.com <http://www.jurock.com/> or www.featureweb.com <http://www.featureweb.com/> . David Ingram deals on a daily basis with expatriate tax returns with: multi jurisdictional cross and trans border expatriate problems for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, China, New Zealand, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Georgia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii, Florida, Montana, Morocco, Israel, Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali, Bangkok, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, St Vincent, Grenada,, Virgin Islands, US, UK, GB, and any of the 43 states with state tax returns, etc. Rockwall, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston Texas Denmark, Finland, Sweden Norway Bulgaria Croatia Income Tax and Immigration Tips, Income Tax and ImmigrationWizard Income Tax and Immigration Guru Income Tax and Immigration Consultant Income Tax and Immigration Specialist Section 216(4) 216(1) NR6 NR-6 NR 6 Non-Resident Real Estate tax specialist expert preparer consultant expatriate anti money laundering money seasoning FINTRAC E677 E667 4789 4790 TDF-90 Reporting $10,000 cross border transactions ========================= Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Garland, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon. 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