Baby(with Canadian father)born in the Philippines

ivy wrote: my friend's questions... She is a Filipina living in the Philippines who is giving birth this May; her and her husband have been planning to apply for the spouse visa, but since the baby will be born next month, they are wondering if they can include the baby in the PR application when the baby is born. The baby will be born Canadian too, as he/she has a Canadian father. They can apply for a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship for the baby in the Philippines but they figured that the process will be too lengthy (up to 14 months) and they can't wait that long. So what they would like to do now, is get a Philippine passport for the baby (which is a lot quicker than acquiring for proof of Canadian citizenship and Canadian passport), and include the baby in the mother's spouse/PR application. And when the baby is here in Canada, only then will they apply for the Canadian citizenship. The problem is, she isn't sure if they are allowed to choose this option, and whether or not it is mandatory that they apply for the proof of Canadian citizenship in the Philippines since the baby will be born there. Or can they apply for that when the baby is in Canada? They have been doing a lot of research online but so far hasn't found any accurate information yet. Please, anyone who has gone through or is going through this same situation like hers, your help is greatly appreciated.

I have not been through this. But can observe the following:

I assume the child's father was either born in Canada or is a naturalized Canadian citizen. If so, the child is a Canadian and thus cannot be sponsored for PR. (Only Foreign Nationals may apply or be included in an application for PR.)

If the child's father was not born in Canada or not a naturalized Canadian citizen, there are other provisions of law which govern whether or not the child is a Canadian citizen. That is, not all children born abroad to a Canadian citizen parent are necessarily Canadian citizens. This may be of no relevance here, but because not all children born to a Canadian citizen abroad are necessarily Canadian citizens, this should not go unsaid.

In any event, if the child is indeed a Canadian citizen (most likely), then no, the child should not, cannot be included in the sponsorship application.

Others here are probably more familiar with the process for obtaining authorization to travel to Canada for such a child, but I am quite sure there is a process for doing that which should take less than 14 months. I believe the thing to do is to contact CIC directly, probably through the consulate in Manila, and they can explain what you can do, need to do, to bring the child with you when traveling to Canada. Probably a good idea to do this before the child is born even, to be sure of how to go about getting the paperwork necessary to facilate the process.

Moreover, a spousal sponsored PR application for a person from the Philippines is likely to take nearly as long (12 months for 80 percent of applicants plus the month for the sponsor approval step in Mississauga) if not longer than the process for obtaining certificate of citizenship for minor (6 months plus an additional 3 to 4 when applying through consulate in the Philippines, as I read the current processing times).

Hi there auditt76,