Applications for Grant of Citizenship for Stateless persons Born to a Canadian Parent

What is Form CIT 0497?

Because of an act of legislation passed in Canada in 2009, the possibility of stateless children of Canadian citizens has become possible.

Form CIT 0497, Application for Grant of Citizenship for Stateless Persons Born to a Canadian Parent (Subsection 5(5)), was created to allow such people to apply for Canadian citizenship.

Who is supposed to use Form CIT 0497?

People who meet the following qualifications can use CIT 0497 to apply for Canadian citizenship:

• You have to be currently stateless, meaning that you can claim no nationality.
• You can't have ever had a claim to any nationality.
• You have to be at least 18 to apply on your own behalf. If you are under the age of 18, then the parent has to file the application. However, in both cases, the stateless person is the applicant.

What are the requirements to file Form CIT 0497?

In order to file Form CIT 0497, the applicant has to meet a set of eligibility requirements and provide evidentiary documentation. To be eligible, applicants must

• Have been born outside of Canada after April 16, 2009
• Have at least one Canadian citizen parent when they were born
• Are younger than 23 years old when they apply
• Have lived in Canada for three out of the four years preceding their application
• Are currently and have always been stateless
• Meet other, more specific, criminal requirements of Canada

Documents required by this process include:

• Proof of date and place of birth as well as who the applicants parents are
• Proof of the Canadian citizenship of the applicants parents
• Proof that you are now and have always been stateless
• Proof that you live in Canada
• Two items of personal identification
• Translations of any of the above documents that aren't in English or French