James Andrews

Friday night I spent the night at my parent’s house. While I was laying down getting ready to sleep. My mother was sitting at her computer trying to figure out if she still had Canadian citizenship or not. I say this because a few years back my mother went through the process of gaining her American citizenship. Come to find out that in order for her to lose her Canadian citizenship she needs to go to the Canadian Consulate and renounce it. That though is not the point of the post. My mother was born in New Brunswick canada. My father Was born in Athol, MA, USA. There is a law in Canada that states if you are born outside Canada and at least one of your parents is Canadian citizen at the time of your birth, then you are considered a Canadian citizen. This means that my sister, brothers, and I all seem to have dual citizenship with the US and Canada. While the US may not recognize our dual citizenship. Canada does, and so do many other countries.

Why is this important. Well at my current age, it’s not as important as it would have been say 10 years ago. Japan and many other countries have what is called “Working Holiday Visa” agreements with Canada. Which would have allowed me to go to Japan and work for a year while I was there. I feel a little sad that I missed out on the opportunity to live and work in Japan back when I was younger.

If you are a citizen of any other country an one of your parents is a Canadian citizen you may want to investigate getting your canadian citizenship. It may open a lot of doors for you that you didn’t realize you had.