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How to apply for a Canadian Passport for my child born outside of Canada? I hold a Canadian Citizenship.

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Recently due to an unavoidable circumstances, my wife had to travel back to India to be with her family due to illness with a family member. She was pregnant at the time and she had to also take care of that ailing family member. She stayed for a couple of months and when she decided to come back to Canada, the airlines wouldn't allow her to travel due to her pregnancy being at an advanced stage. Moreover, her pregnancy had some complication and needed special care by the Doctors in India. The risk of traveling and giving birth on the Air planes was quite possible and so she was refused to allow boarding the air planes. The tickets eventually got wasted because she couldn't travel and there was no refund for the tickets or any sort of compensation.

Thus, our baby was born in India with a Indian birth certificate. I am a Canadian Citizen whereas my wife only holds a permanent residence status. What i am worried about is how i could go about applying for a Canadian Passport to bring both my wife and my child back to Canada. Will my child be considered a Canadian Citizen even though he was born in India? How long does it take before i could get both my wife and my child back to Canada safely?
asked in Ottawa by Rohan Patel (128 points)

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2 Answers

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Based on the information provided by you, your child will be considered a Canadian Citizen because you had received your citizenship before your child was born in India. However, your child will not be entitled to health care for at least three months after arriving back in Canada. Your child will not be given a Social Insurance Card as well unless your child's certificate of Canadian Citizenship is received. For the processing of certificate of Canadian citizenship, it will roughly take about 5 months to 1 year to process and receive it in your mail. The validity of the passport for your child will only be for two years before which you will need to renew it. Now in order to renew your child's passport, you will need to provide the proof of Canadian Citizenship Certificate. 

So for easy understanding on the entire process from start to finish i have listed it in number order below:

1. You have to apply for two things for your child:

First one being the proof of Canadian Citizenship certificate, click on Canadian Citizenship Certificate  to download the form and print them out. Processing time will vary from 5 months to 1 year depending on the country you are applying from.

Secondly, after you have received your proof of Canadian Citizenship Certificate, you will then apply for Canadian Passport for your child. Click on Canadian Passport to apply. Processing times takes about one month or more depending on the country you are applying from. 

It is advisable to submit the above mentioned documents to the Canadian Embassy located in India instead of sending them to the processing unit in Canada directly because the Canadian Embassy in India have a slightly different requirements based on the fact that your child was born in India.

2. If in case, you urgently wants to bring your child back to Canada as soon as possible without having to wait that long for proof of Canadian Citizenship Certificate, you can submit both the above mentioned application together labeled "Urgent Processing Request" at the same time. The Canadian Embassy in India will process your passport application in about one or two months time and if your case is truly Urgent, your child will be issued a Canadian Passport which will have a validity of about two years. At least this will allow your child to fly back to Canada without the need to wait for the Canadian Citizenship Certificate first and then apply for the Canadian Passport.

3. Upon receiving your child's Canadian Passport, you will need to approach your local Indian Immigration office and ask for the "Exit Permit" paper which will allow your child to travel with you back to Canada. This paper is very important and without it, you might have to give up your flight tickets and waste money on Re-booking your air tickets. The local authorities might want to see your confirmed flight tickets and usually ask you to come two days or a week before actual flight date to collect the "Exit Permit" for your child.

If at any time you have questions and want to contact the Canadian Embassy in India, the information below will help you to contact them:

1. New Delhi - High Commission of Canada

Street Address: 7/8 Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110 021, India

Telephone: +91 11 4178 2000

Fax: +91 11 4178 2023

Email: india.consular@international.gc.ca

Consular district

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand

2. Chandigarh - Consulate General of Canada

Street Address: C413-C416, 4th Floor, Elante Office Complex, Plot No. 178-178A, Industrial & Business Park, Phase 1, Chandigarh 160002, India

Telephone: +91 172 505 0300

Fax: +91 172 505 0323

Email: india.consular@international.gc.ca

Consular district

Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab

3. Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) - Consulate of Canada

Street Address: Duncan House, 31 Netaji Subhas Road, Kolkata 700 001, India

Telephone: +91 33 2242 6820

Fax: +91 33 2242 6828

Email: india.consular@international.gc.ca

Consular district

West Bengal

4. Mumbai (Formerly Bombay) - Consulate General of Canada

Street Address: Indiabulls Financial Centre, Tower 2, 21st Floor, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road West, Mumbai 400 013, India

Telephone: +91 22 6749 4444

Fax: +91 22 6749 4454

Email: india.consular@international.gc.ca

Consular district

Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra

answered by Jyoti Shah (129 points)
0 votes
Watch video on "How to fill in application for child Canadian passport for general purposes in Canada" :

answered by Filling Child Canadian Passport

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