3.2.5 Australian/Canadian
Description
This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales with numerous contributions by others.
3.2.5 Australian/Canadian
[FN] According to the 1977 Citizenship Act, which applies to all who were
Canadian citizens as of Feb. 15, 1977 or later, citizenship is a right
that cannot be revoked by the voluntary act of a citizen in doing such
things as applying for citizenship in another country, or being absent
from Canada for any length of time. Has anything happened to change
this?
[How about a Canadian answering this one ? -SW]
[MJ] I am not a Canadian, but have heard that some members of
the Canadian legislature think that the current law is too liberal, and
that taking out another citizenship should cause you to lose Canadian
citizenship. The law has not been changed, but there are noises suggesting
that it might be.
Rich Wales (richw@mks.com) responded:
I am, incidentally, a US citizen living in Canada as a landed immigrant
(non-citizen permanent resident). I plan to apply for Canadian citizen-
ship next year, which means I would eventually become a dual US/Canadian
citizen. I have no Australian ties.
Re: Dual Australian/Canadian citizenship
Canada's 1977 Citizenship Act freely permits dual Canadian/other
citizenship. Acquisition or exercise of another country's citizen-
ship does =not= result in loss of Canadian citizenship. Even if
the naturalization oath of another country (such as the US) has a
renunciatory provision in it, this has no legal effect in Canada.
In June 1994, the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Citizen-
ship and Immigration issued a report which, amongst other things,
recommended that Canadian law should be changed to revoke Canadian
citizenship in most cases following foreign naturalization.
As of the present time (July 1995), no formal action has been taken
on this or any other proposal in the committee report. The Minister
of Citizenship and Immigration, Sergio Marchi, has reportedly been
planning on introducing a completely rewritten Citizenship Act for
some time now, but so far this has not occurred. Whether this new
legislation will include provisions banning or restricting dual
citizenship, or not, is unknown.
So, for the time being at least, it is possible for a Canadian who
becomes an Australian to retain both citizenships. Assuming Aus-
tralia follows through on proposals I have heard of to permit dual
citizenship following foreign naturalization, it would also be
possible for an Australian who became a Canadian to retain both
citizenships.
Re: Dual Australian/US citizenship
As Zev Sero and Carol Denehy have noted already, US law now permits
dual US/other citizenship. The US State Department has become much
more permissive toward dual citizenship claims since 1990 -- as can
be seen by comparing Zev's and Carol's experiences.
Assuming Australia follows through on proposals I have heard of to
permit dual citizenship for Australians who acquire a foreign citi-
zenship via naturalization, it should be possible for Australians
to retain their Australian citizenship despite naturalization in
the US. The US naturalization oath still includes a renunciatory
clause, but it is my understanding that this renunciation is not
enforced by the US in any meaningful way. A requirement that new
US citizens must intend to reside permanently in the US following
naturalization (and could lose their newly gained citizenship by
moving away from the US within one year after naturalization) was
repealed by Congress in October 1994. I do not have any informa-
tion as to whether there is any move afoot to repeal the renuncia-
tory clause in the naturalization oath.
<End commentary by Rich>
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