canadian citizenship for baby/parents?

[jaquarat]

hi. i'm hoping someone can give us some tips. i'm american, and my girlfriend is italian. she's pregnant, and we're trying to decide if there would be any advantage to having the baby in canada.

we don't want to marry (not immediately). so a problem is her being able to stay in the u.s. because she's on a tourist visa (it expires the same month she's due ~ in june), and just because she's pregnant with an american child doesn't mean she gets any kind of american residency privileges.

i read somewhere on the web that if a baby is born in canada then the parents can get canadian citizenship after 3 years. (i think with "intention to stay in canada", which is 6+ months out of the year???)

canada sounds very livable, and is close because we are currently in new york city. my girlfriend also speaks french (in addition to italian and english), so montreal might be an option, though we've never been, and though it may be difficult to find work.

also, we want to do a water birth, which might be a good pretext for going to a specific place (or a different country) to have a child.

if you could help us out, we'd appreciate it!

thanks

[karire]

Hello,

Congratulations for both of you on the baby. Canada is indeed a wonderful country. I would advise tp check the citizenship website http://www.cic.gc.ca/, which has all details regarding residency requirements and citizenship eligibility.

Wishing you best of luck.

[Joanne]

Hello,

Sorry but there is no advantage of having your baby in Canada (in fact there is only disavantage , you will have to pay the full price for the doctors and hospital when she will have the baby...).

Your baby will not be Canadian if he is born in Canada. The mother or the father (if the couple is married) needs to be Canadian themselves.
If you want to go and live in Canada you have to apply for immigration before moving there permanently.
Look on the www.canada.ca to see if you are both eligible for any kind of visa.
Note that it can take quite a long time if you decide to apply for immigration so you have to be patient !!

Good Luck!

[JamesUsher]

Congrats on the baby to be.
All I can recommend is doing things straight forward.
I don't know why you would want your child born in Canada or any other country other than Italy or the US. That's where it's parents are from. He/she is gonna go bezerk wondering what his/her parents were up to when then had him/her in a country not of either of their origin.
I would try getting and extension on your girlfriends current tourist visa. explain the situation to US Immigration and go from there. I don't think that they would make her go back to Italy at this stage of her pregnancy.

[Duncan_BC]

Your American citizenship will extend to the baby. The only advantage to having the baby in Canada, (besides automatic Canadian citizenship), is the price of the medical service. If your GF is not covered in the USA, then the cost there would be really high. True she would have to pay to have the baby in Canada, but these costs would pale in comparison to US prices.

[oohmercyme]

Maybe it's just me, but I find it a bit absurd (unethical? inappropriate? I really can't find a word that accurately describes what I think) that you are planning your child's birth in a country for which you think you can either get free health care or some other advantage.

You are not hoping your child will be a Canadian citizen because you love the country or you think s/he can contribute to it, you want advantages that you think you can't get elsewhere.

American and Italian citizenships are nothing to sneeze at, why not be happy with what you have and are legitmately eligible for? (it's not like you are coming from a war-torn or disadvantaged country).

Undoubtedly you are not interested in a moral opinion on your plans, but people who try to take advantage of the system really tick me off.

*Gets off soapbox*

(PS- Your chances of getting the birth experience you want are greater in the US than in Canada).

[lauralee]

In my opinion, people like you who seek to obtain Canadian citizenship by having a baby in Canada should be deported! Canada is a great country but if you only want to take advantage of our social systems then we prefer that you stay where you are. We do not pay taxes so than foreigners can come to Canada to have babies and obtain citizenship.