I’m a Canadian citizen, but I live and work in the USA as a permanent resident.
I met my American husband in Canada — while we were both working in the motorcycle industry.
We have lived and worked all over North America, but East Tennessee is where we choose to call home and raise our baby.
Our baby was born in the U.S. — which makes him an American Citizen automatically and a Canadian Citizen by descent.
We have already applied for and received his U.S. infant passport.
The next step is to apply for our baby’s Canadian Citizenship Certificate to prove his citizenship — which is a document required to acquire his Canadian Passport.
Only Canadian citizens can apply for a Canadian Citizen Certificate. (We are not applying for citizenship, as my baby is already a Canadian by descent.)
How To Complete The Application For Canadian Citizenship Certificate
These are the steps we took when submitting our baby’s Application for Canadian Citizenship Certificate:
- Get a government-issued photo ID of the infant. The easiest and fastest form of ID we could think of was the infant U.S. passport. (Certified copy)
- Have baby’s citizenship photos taken. Basically, they’re just like Canadian Passport photos. Here are the specific requirements for Canadian Citizen Certificate photos.
- Get a Birth Certificate for the infant. (Certified copy)
- Get a Birth Certificate for the baby’s Canadian parent/s. (Certified copy)
- Fill out the Application for Canadian Citizenship Certificate. (You can get the official form here.)
- Pay the fee and enclose a printed copy of your receipt with your application. (See instructions here.)
- Get all certified copies notarized. Do NOT send originals — because they may not get returned. (Here is a complete document checklist.)
- Mail everything to the Case Processing Center in Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada — even though the website instructs you to mail the application to the closest Canada embassy, if you live outside of Canada. I followed those instructions and our application was returned, instructing us to mail everything to the Case Processing Center in Canada. (You can find the address here.)
Now, we wait.
Last I checked, it will take 5 months to process our baby’s Application for Canadian Citizenship Certificate.
You can check the current processing times here.
Once we receive the Canadian Citizenship Certificate, we will then apply for an infant Canadian Passport.
It’s important to me as a parent to process and finalize these official documents. My side of the family still resides in Canada, and we plan to have our baby visit to know his family there.
Even though his U.S. Passport would work just fine to get him there, I want him to know Canada and be proud to be a Canadian too.
Some Interesting Facts About Canada
My Canadian roots run deep — with so many fond memories.
Here are just a few interesting facts I like to share about my very vast home and native land:
- Canada shares the world’s largest international border with the USA.
- It is such a massive country — spanning 6 time zones across 10 provinces and 3 territories.
- Canada is the world’s second largest country, after Russia.
- Canada’s population is approximately 36 million, compared to 323 million people in the USA.
- The landscape is diverse and has wide open spaces which are sparsely populated. The majority of the population (85%) live in the major cities closer to the southern border.
- Canada uses the metric system — kilometers and Celsius.
- Since Canada is mostly surrounded by water (minus the border it shares), it has the world’s largest coastline.
- Canada has more lakes than the world’s lakes combined, and it has 1/5 of the world’s freshwater supply.
- Canada’s bill money is colorful, waterproof, and features Braille for the blind. But there are coins in place of the $1 & $2 bill. Those coins are called a loonie and a toonie.
- Approximately 3/4 of the world’s maple syrup comes from Quebec, Canada. They actually have reserves of the sweet liquid.
Until my son was born a few years ago, I was a diehard motorcycle enthusiast who traveled the globe. As a Marketing Specialist and Brand Ambassador for Harley-Davidson for over a decade, I lived and worked all over North America. Now, grounded as a first-time mom, I share my love for outdoor adventure with my son and extended family in the Smoky Mountains… and beyond. I hope you find my travel tips and recommendations helpful!
