Email details from Canadian Consulate

Dear Roland,

You will need to enter Canada on your Canadian passports.

Regards,

Thank you for your message. The Consular section in Sydney is responsible for New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Our office in Canberra is servicing the rest of Australia.

Your query was submitted in English. To receive this response in French, please resend your message with the request in French in the subject line

Timely and efficient processing is important to us.  We receive an enormous amount of correspondence daily.  This generic response will assist you to find the information you need.

PLEASE NOTE: consult the relevant links/text highlighted in yellow to find your information:

GENERAL INFORMATION: if you seek information available on our website, this is the only response you will receive. To facilitate your search, you can consult the links below or control click on the icons located at the right side of this message

-Office hours, holidays, address (also valid to mail applications):

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/australia-australie/contact-sydney-contactez.aspx?lang=eng

-Fees, exchange rates and acceptable means of payment: click on ALL FEES (right column).

-Passport application forms and instructions:

http://www.pptc.gc.ca/info/index.aspx?lang=eng&region=international

-Proof of citizenship application and instructions:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/proof.asp

-Passport photos: you can consult any photographer as long as the specifications on the instructions attached to the application forms are respected

**You must provide a large REGISTERED prepaid envelope to have your passport and documents returned by mail**

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/australia-australie/consular_services_consulaires/passports-passeports_adults.aspx?lang=eng

IF YOU ARE PROVIDING INFORMATION FOR YOUR CASE: your information will be sent directly to your file and appropriate action will be taken. This is the only acknowledgement you will receive.

CASE STATUS FOR PASSPORT and CITIZENSHIP APPLICATIONS:

We do not respond to status queries for applications within the advertised processing times:

20 working days for passport renewals, 30 days for general passport applications and 10-12 months for citizenship applications for routine cases, starting from the time we receive a complete application and excluding mailing time.

If the processing of your application has exceeded the current processing time, please ensure your name, date of birth and file number are in the subject line of your e-mail with the mention: EXCEED. Please note that processing times may change and are not guaranteed.

We do not acknowledge reception of applications. You may use your mail tracking number to verify delivery

GUARANTORS: An individual can qualify as a guarantor if:
1-s/he holds a valid or expired (less than one year) Canadian passport OR

2-s/he is on the occupation list provided on the passport application instructions sheet AND s/he must be residing and working in Australia. For more information you can consult the instructions on the passport application or:  http://www.pptc.gc.ca/info/section2.aspx?lang=eng

 CANADIAN DUAL NATIONALS AND eTA:

Canadian citizens including dual nationals are not eligible to apply for an eTA and are expected to travel on their Canadian passport:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/dual-canadian-citizens.asp

Before applying for a Canadian passport, you must obtain an original proof of Canadian citizenship if you do not have one (Canadian birth certificate or Citizenship certificate).

Special procedures for Canadians affected by eTA and facing urgent travel have been implemented. Please consult the following link to find out if you qualify and can submit concurrent passport and citizenship applications:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/urgent-proof.asp

CRIMINAL RECORDS AND VULNERABLE SECTOR CHECKS: The consular section is not responsible for Criminal Records and vulnerable sector checks and does not provide forms. For more information and related inquiries,  you can consult  the RCMP website at http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/fing-empr2-eng.htm. You will also need to contact your local police station in Australia to arrange for fingerprinting.

NOTARIAL SERVICES: The Consulate offers limited notarial services to Canadians with prior appointment and ONLY when those services are not available locally. Before booking an appointment, we will require information about which service provider you consulted and why the service you are seeking cannot be performed locally.

CANADA PENSION PLAN, OLD AGE SECURITY, SIN NUMBERS, TAXATION, AND REGISTERED RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLAN (RRSP): the consular section is not responsible for these programs. For information and inquiries on CPP, OAS, or SIN numbers, you may consult Services Canada’s website at http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/home.shtml. For taxation issues: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html.

For RRSPs, you may consult http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/rrsp-reer/rrsps-eng.html.

DRIVER’S LICENSES: is a provincial responsibility. For all inquiries, the relevant provincial authorities must be consulted

INQUIRIES ABOUT THE TRANSFER OF AUSTRALIAN VISAS OR OTHER AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION ISSUES: Please consult Australian immigration authorities: http://www.immi.gov.au/Pages/Welcome.aspx

·         FOR TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH WEBSITE CONTENTS: Please seek help through the website you are consulting

Consular Section/Services Consulaires

Telephone | Téléphone: +61 2 9364 3000
Facsimile | Télécopieur: +61 2 9364 3098
sydny-cs@international.gc.ca

Level 5, 111 Harrington Street / 5e étage, 111 rue Harrington
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia | Australie

Consulate General of Canada | Consulat général du Canada
Government of Canada | Gouvernement du Canada

www.australia.gc.ca | www.australie.gc.ca

This post in its entirety is the copyright of Roland Paix. I don't mind if you link to it but if you copy any of the content you must provide a link to the post and credit me appropriately.

 

Canadians travelling to Canada with their foreign-born children

(updated 21 June - need to visit consulate to pick up temporary passports!  Also, it's possible to use the Special Authorisation!)
(updated 9 June and again 11 June after I finally received an email response to my initial query from 3 weeks earlier.  You can read it here.)

Are you a Canadian dual-citizen living abroad and wanting to visit home?
Are you Canadian, but your children were born abroad and you want to visit Canada?

Guess what... you MUST travel to Canada on a Canadian passport if you're a dual citizen.

Guess what again... If you were a Canadian citizen when your children were born abroad... they're Canadian citizens, too.  It doesn't matter if they've never been to Canada, the Canadian government considers them citizens.  They must, therefore, travel on a Canadian passport to visit Canada.  Crazy, right?

We're just going through this situation.  I'm Australian and my wife is Canadian and we live in Australia.  We have two children, both were born in Australia and have Australian citizenship and passports.  A month before we were due to fly to Canada, we found out the bad news.  They have to get Canadian passports!  No travelling on their perfectly good Australian passports, oh no.

What do you need to know?  First off, this only applies to children who have at least one parent who was a Canadian citizen when they were born.  You can apply for citizenship and a passport from outside of Canada, but it's a lengthy process.  You don't have to have the citizenship sorted to get a passport, but you have to have applied for it with all the right documentation.  There are faster options for the passport, so read on.

If you have 18 months or so up your sleeve, then apply for the citizenship right now.  It can take up to 15 months, although when I checked, current processing times were 10-12 months.  Once you get it, apply for the standard 5-year passport, which can take 9 weeks or longer.  If you need the passport sooner, you can apply without proof of citizenship (i.e., you've applied, or are applying) and you'll get a limited validity passport (2 years), which I think takes about 45 business days.  Lastly, if you're really close to your travel date, you can get a temporary passport that you need to send back within 60 days to swap for the limited validity passport.  That takes about 10 business days.  Confused yet?

The next step depends on when you're planning to go, and if you've already paid for flights and have a flight itinerary.  If you're not travelling within the next 10 weeks, you should be able to get away the limited validity passport.  Any less, and you probably need the temporary passport.  (Update: it took 45 business days, not including postage time for my wife to get her passport renewed.  That's 10 weeks - don't delay!)

Unfortunately, you won't find all the information and forms that you need on the main Canadian government website.  I've provided links to everything you need, though.  If you're outside of Canada, you're supposed to contact your local consulate and they'll provide the right information.  They're swamped.  There are so many people desperately applying for passports right now, you'd be lucky if they write back to you within 3 weeks, and it doesn't seem possible to call them.  When they did contact us, though, they were very helpful and really wanted us to get through the process in time to travel.

I did eventually find the Canadian High Commission in Australia's web page which has better information.

Citizenship

You have to apply for citizenship for your kids.  Here's how.
First up, a couple of links:

Apply for proof of citizenship
Application for a citizenship certificate (adults and minors)
Guide to applying for citizenship
Apply for proof of citizenship urgently

Steps:

1. Download and complete the citizenship application
2. Get the citizenship photos taken
3. Pay the fees
4. Get certified copies of the relevant documents

Documents you need:

1. CIT 0001 - Citizenship application form
2. Child's birth certificate - certified copy
3. Canadian parent(s) birth certificate(s) - certified copy
4. Canadian parent(s) ID such as driver's license - certified copy
5. Receipt for payment of fees
6. 2x citizenship photos

Notes:

• You'll probably find you need the Canadian grandparent's citizenship details, including the birth certificate number.
• If you're a parent filling in the application for your child, you're not appointing yourself as a representative so don't worry about that form.
• Who can certify copies of the birth certificates and ID?  The website says only a notary public can do that from outside Canada.  $120 for 3 photocopies!!  Gaaagh!!  However, the consulate in Australia were very clear to me that a Justice of the Peace was fine to certify the copies.  Another reason to be very grateful for the wonderful service that JPs provide.
• Make sure you take copies of the both the front and the back of any documents.
• You must pay the citizenship fees online, and print out the receipt to include in the application.  For each child, you need to pay for a minor ($100) and a citizenship certificate ($75). (Update - the consulate told me we'd get a $200 refund, so it appears that you only have to pay for the certificate. I can't guarantee this though, as we won't find out for about a year!)
• The citizenship photos are the same format as Australian passport photos.  Lucky they give you 8 when you get them done at Australia Post! Make sure you write on the back of both of them correctly.
• If you're applying for multiple children, make sure you have copies of each of the documents for each application.  We didn't the first time around, they split our applications, lost one, and almost rejected the other one because it was missing documents.

Passport

You can apply for a passport at the same time as citizenship, but it will be a limited validity passport.  If you're travelling within 10 weeks, you probably want to also apply for a temporary passport, which you then agree to swap for the limited validity passport within 60 days.  There's one form for (any type of) the passport, another form to acknowledge that you may get a limited validity passport, and a third form to agree to the temporary passport exchange.

New or Replacement Passports for Children
How to apply for a child’s passport

Steps:

1. Download and complete the child passport application
2. Get the passport photos taken
3. Take photocopies of IDs
4. Find a guarantor
5. Get guarantor to sign, sign, sign
6. Fill in the credit card authorisation form
7. Print out and complete the extra passport forms as required

Documents you need:

1. PPTC 042 - Child passport application form
2. Child's original birth certificate
3. Canadian parent(s) original birth certificate(s)
4. PPTC 116 - Limited validity passport acknowledgement
5. PPTC 120 - Temporary passport exchange agreement
6. 2x passport photos, one signed by guarantor
7. Copy of child's ID, signed by guarantor
8. Copy of parent's ID, signed by guarantor
9. Credit card authorisation form

Notes:

• The applicant on the passport form is the Canadian parent.
• You must send original birth certificates, certified copies aren't enough.
• Who can be a guarantor?  It's different from the Australian passport guarantor list.
• PPTC 116 special notes:
• The applicant is the Canadian parent
• Tick the box next to I have applied
• Strike through the word "replacement" in the same line (i.e. replacement)
• I don't know why it's there twice, so fill it in twice, to be safe
• PPTC 120 - the applicant is the Canadian parent.
• Canadian passport photos are a different format to Australian ones, don't get caught out.  Make sure you get the photographer's stamp and guarantor's signature on the back of only one of them.
• 2 copies of the child's ID are asked for, but only if they have them.  Use the Australian passport.  The copies must be signed by the guarantor.
• Also include a copy of the Canadian parent's (applicant's) ID such as a driver's license, which must also be signed by the guarantor.
• Make sure you take copies of the both the front and the back of any documents.
• If you're applying for multiple children, make sure you have copies of each of the documents for each application.
• You only need one credit card authorisation form for multiple applications, just calculate it right.  E.g. 2x kids = 2x limited validity passport @ $100, plus 2x temporary passport @ $110 = $420.
• (Update - for temporary passports, the consulate told us that the applicant needs to make a personal appearance at the consulate before they can issue the passport(s). I assume this is because normally temporary passports are only issued in cases where the original passport was lost/stolen.  You can arrange for the 'personal appearance' to be at the same time you pick up the passports.  Hate to think what would happen if you live in the outback or something!)
• (Update - we didn't end up getting temporary passports!  The consulate emailed us when they received confirmation from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that our children are entitled to Canadian citizenship.  They suggested we apply for Special Authorization, which was approved within 30 minutes by email.  This allows our kids to travel on their Australian passports, but has a very short validity of 4 days)

Post

• If you're travelling soon and need either the limited validity passport or temporary passport, make sure you include a copy of your flight itinerary (one per application) or other proof of travel.
• Write a cover letter explaining that the passport application is urgent and your date of travel.  Make sure it's on the top of the pile of documents.
• Send to the right consulate for your location.
• Use Express Post for guaranteed next day delivery.  Mine got there around 10am.
• Write URGENT! on the envelope.
• Include a self-addressed return Express Post envelope for each passport application, with a "signature on delivery" sticker: you must sign for it when you receive it. I'm not sure about citizenship applications but I don't think they need a return envelope.

In case you found the Special Authorisation - it only applies to applicants who already have citizenship :( (see update above - you may be able to use this if you aren't able to get any type of Canadian passport in time, and the consulate can confirm the entitlement to citizenship)

Good luck... happy travels.  We fly out in 2 weeks' time and are still waiting for 3 Canadian passports... sigh. (Update - with about 20 hours until we fly, we got approval for special authorisation and my wife's passport turned up in the mail!)

One last note: things change.  My experience may not be the same as yours, and may find yourself with extra or different requirements.  Make sure you contact your local consulate as soon as possible, as they are the only ones who can give you accurate information.

This post in its entirety is the copyright of Roland Paix. I don't mind if you link to it but if you copy any of the content you must provide a link to the post and credit me appropriately.