Citizenship and Immigration Canada - A Guide

Immigration is definitely a large part of International Adoption. Obviously!

This post is mainly just a how-to for this part of the adoption process. Since I know we're not the only ones going through it!

We have been told by our agency to start the process now. We need to have pre-approval (aka Part I approval) before we can be registered in a region in Russia, so it was off to the paperwork!

Let me just say that CIC paperwork is a little confusing at first glance. The website is decent so it just took some time to sort through it and figure out what route to go and how how to do it.

To start with, you need to choose between two processes:

1. Immigration aka sponsorship, or
2. Citizenship

This page explains the fundamental differences.

Our agency has quite a bit of experience with the Sponsorship route - many families have chosen it in the past as it's been known to be quicker. However, Adam and I have chosen the Citizenship process as we would prefer our child become Canadian right away.

There are 2 parts to the process.
Part I: Done in country . . . now
Part II: Done in whatever country the adoption is finalized; in our case this would be in Russia.

PART I

There are 3 steps in Part I:

1. Application Documents
2. Pay Application Fee
3. Submit Application

PART I, Step 1: Application Documents

There are 3 documents:
Checklist: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/citizen/CIT0484E.pdf
Form: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/citizen/CIT0010E.pdf
Instruction Manual (very useful!) http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/CIT0009ETOC.asp

If you follow the instructional manual it will go pretty smoothly, but I'll outline some key points anyway.
Only one of the prospective Adoptive Parents applies, although you will need to list both of your info.
You need to include a bunch of source documents to prove you are who you say you are.
For the one applying you'll need 2 pieces of ID

• a driver’s licence
• a health insurance card
• a copy of your passport page containing your photo and personal details, etc.

For each of the prospective Adoptive Parent you'll need to provide proof of Citizenship using one of the following:

• Provincial/territorial birth certificate
• Certificate of Canadian citizenship
• Certificate of naturalization
• Certificate of Registration of Birth Abroad
• Certificate of retention issued between January 1, 1947 and February 14, 1977

But don't forget to include proof of legal name change if you're married! (meaning your marriage certificate)

And you have to get all these document copies authenticated! We'll be using our lawyer who's a Notary Public to do the notarizing for us (he's wonderful). You're options are:

• a commissioner of oaths
• a notary public
• a justice of the peace 

But a simple stamp won't do! Nope! They need to say “I certify that this is a true copy of the original document.” AND it needs to have the following:

• the name of the original document,
• the date of the certification,
• his or her name,
• his or her official position or title, and
• his or her signature.

PART I, Step 2: Pay Your Application Fees

You can pay at a bank, or (like every other bill in the 21st century) you can pay your application fee online. No matter which process you chose it's $100.00 for Part I (no idea at this point what it is for Part II). 

The key part for this is that you MUST include the receipt with your application. MUST! It has a barcode on it, so they scan that and that's the barcode by which they file your application.

If you're as paranoid as I am you'll print off three copies and keep them in a page protector and THEN email it to yourself. But that's just me.

PART I, Step 3: Pay Your Application Fees

Package it all up and mail it off to:

Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Case Processing Centre—Sydney—ADOPTION
P.O. Box 10030
Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 7C1

In case that's not direct enough for you, the website gives you this helpful little picture:

Next Steps

When your application is received you'll receive a letter saying the office got it. After Part 1 is assessed, you'll get another letter with the decision. THIS is the letter you send to the agency.

If your application is approved, you will be told when and where to submit Part 2. In our case that will be at the Canadian Embassy in Russia. We'll get an entry VISA in our LO's Russian Passport and then be on our way. It'll take a little bit for the Citizenship Certificate to be processed and arrive at home for us.

So that's it! A long but brief (hehe) look at the CIC process. Hope this is helpful to someone!