This last December, Canada changed its citizenship law to an extremely broad version of citizenship by descent. If I understand it correctly, anyone who has any ancestor born in what is now Canada, no matter how distantly far back, is now a Canadian citizen. My great-great grandmother was born there in the mid nineteenth century, so I think this now includes me and my family. I have obviously not taken any steps to pursue this. Do folks on the blog think this is something that needs reporting? My SF-86 was submitted in November, and I only just found out about this. I want to be fully transparent, but obviously, this is a very distant connection. It is also expected to apply to millions of US citizens.
Do you have to do anything to claim your Canadian citizenship/citoyenneté canadienne?
For instance, I may be entitled to Irish citizenship based on my grandparents, but I’d have to go through an application process. Not to mention the process to get a passport.
Practically, I would have to send in the relevant birth certificates to be recognized as such. However, I think Canada’s law is different than the Irish law for grandchildren in that it makes people citizens by default and retroactively, not upon receipt of the application. (I think it is more like the Irish law for children; I’ve read up on that law since the relevant ancestors are actually Irish.) Hopefully, that is not a distinction that the US government will care about.
Ugghh. You could literally just be walking around the office and suddenly you’re a Canadian citizen. I personally would just play dumb. Not many people would know about this unless they bother to look into it.
Yeah that might be the thing to do. I thought this scenario sounded familiar and finally remembered, a guy I worked with who was born in Yugoslavia to American parents. He was a US citizen but the Yugoslav authorities considered him to be one of theirs, and if he ever went back there (which he never did, at least not back when there was still a Yugoslavia) he could be drafted.
He said he discussed it with the company’s security officer during the pre-screen and was told not to bring it up, but be prepared to provide details if he was ever asked about it… and I don’t think he ever was.
Just came across this article on a website aimed at the federal workforce:
O (No) Canada: C-3 Canadian Citizenship and Security Clearance Eligibility
The bottom line (or something like it)
It is unlikely to affect your security clearance eligibility if you automatically became a Canadian citizen without your knowledge and say-so. It is another story if you apply for proof of Canadian citizenship and fail to report it, or apply for a Canadian passport and attempt to hide it. Often, a lack of candor can be far more damning than any facts concealed.
A note about “applying for proof” of Canadian citizenship: the article explains that, if you think you may have been affected by this law, you can apply for “recognition” of Canadian citizenship. Anyway if this situation may affect you, check out the article.