OBTAINING CITAZENSHIP OF YOUR COUNTRY FOR YOUR CHILD WHILE LIVING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Introduction

It is a personal choice for a foreigner to live in the Philippines or take your wife back to your home country. If you have child or children and decide to remain in the Philippines there is a gift you can give your child. The citizenship of your country. It does not sound like much but think about it.

When they finish school and college or university they have an option. Your child may decide to stay in the Philippines or travel to their country of citizenship to work and start a new life. As it stands now Filipinos can work as OFWs but from what I have seen there are limits and the majority seem to go to the Middle East and other parts of Asia. I have only spoken to a few OFW and the salary they receive is not as high as they would receive in other Western Countries.

In my case a bit of a mix up

I was born in Canada. My father was Canadian and my mother Australian. Many years ago they decided to migrate to Australia and I finished high school, obtained a metal trade and continued additional studies in engineering. All those years I kept my Canadian Citizenship. When I started to travel many years ago I obtained an Australian Permanent Resident Visa. This allows me all benefits and can enter and leave Australia any time. So I never applied for Australian Citizenship.

Canadian Citizenship

According to the rules if a child born in another country and one parent was a Canadian Citizen at the time of the birth then the child is allowed to apply to become a Canadian Citizen. The application forms look a bit complicated but not so if you concentrate on the requirements for the application.

Travel to Manila  

I only needed to be present to submit the application at the Canadian Embassy in Makati. I did take my wife and daughter along for a reason. The ID pictures of your child have to be to the designated specifications. So if the pictures needed to be taken again it is just a matter of taking your child to another photographer while in Manila

Canadian Embassy Staff were very good and professional

 On my first visit I presented all the documents and missing one. I needed an additional ID for my wife. My wife caught a taxi to the embassy with the additional ID and just a matter of re-joining the Que.

The other documents required were certified hospital records and proof of pre-natal documents like ultrasound etc.

If a foreigner is travelling in and out of the country then entry and exit stamps are certified. Why? It is a requirement to prove you were in the Philippines at the time of conception. They did not ask for a DNA test but that decision is left up to Immigration Officials in Canada who will go over all the documents.

All is in motion now

The application is now submitted and the embassy forwards all these documents to Immigration in Canada. The granting of citizenship does not happen quickly and I was told by embassy staff it can take between 6 and 8 months.

Conclusion

All countries may have slightly different requirements but it is just a matter of looking at the requirements, gathering the documents and presenting them.

Your child at some time in the future has an option to work in the country where the parent was born. They may or may not use the option but it is there. Having citizenship of another country may present opportunities and a better life for your children when they become adults.

Have a nice day

Robbie in Tacloban