Citizenship Regulations

5.1 (1) An application made under subsection 5.1(1) of the Act in respect of a person who is a minor on the date of the application shall be

• (a) made to the Minister in the prescribed form and signed by

  • (i) a citizen who is a parent of the person, or

  • (ii) a non-citizen parent, or a legal guardian, of the person;

• (b) countersigned by the person if he or she has attained the age of 14 years on or before the date of the application and is not prevented from understanding the significance of the application because of a mental disability; and

• (c) filed, together with the materials described in subsection (2), with the Registrar.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), the materials required by this section are

• (a) a birth certificate or, if unobtainable, other evidence that establishes the person’s date and place of birth;

• (b) evidence that establishes that a parent of the person was a citizen at the time of the adoption;

• (c) in the case of an application made by a non-citizen parent or a legal guardian, a certified copy of an order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or other evidence, that establishes that the applicant is a parent or legal guardian of the person;

• (d) in the case of a person who has attained the age of 14 years on or before the date of the application but has not countersigned the application, evidence that establishes that the person is prevented from understanding the significance of the application because of a mental disability;

• (e) evidence that establishes that the adoption took place on or after January 1, 1947 and while the person was a minor; and

• (f) two photographs of the person of the size and type shown on a form prescribed under section 28 of the Act.

(3) The following factors are to be considered in determining whether the requirements of subsection 5.1(1) of the Act have been met in respect of the adoption of a person referred to in subsection (1):

• (a) whether, in the case of a person who has been adopted by a citizen who resided in Canada at the time of the adoption,

  • (i) a competent authority of the province in which the citizen resided at the time of the adoption has stated in writing that it does not object to the adoption, and

  • (ii) the pre-existing legal parent-child relationship was permanently severed by the adoption;

• (b) whether, in the case of a person who has been adopted outside Canada in a country that is a party to the Hague Convention on Adoption and whose intended destination at the time of the adoption is a province,

  • (i) the competent authority of the country and of the province of the person’s intended destination have stated in writing that they approve the adoption as conforming to that Convention,

  • (ii) a competent authority of the province — in which the citizen who is a parent of the person resided at the time of the adoption — has stated in writing that it does not object to the adoption, and

  • (iii) the pre-existing legal parent-child relationship was permanently severed by the adoption; and

• (c) whether, in all other cases,

  • (i) a competent authority has conducted or approved a home study of the parent or parents, as the case may be,

  • (ii) before the adoption, the person’s parent or parents, as the case may be, gave their free and informed consent to the adoption,

  • (iii) the pre-existing legal parent-child relationship was permanently severed by the adoption, and

  • (iv) there is no evidence that the adoption was for the purpose of child trafficking or undue gain within the meaning of the Hague Convention on Adoption.