Dear Miss Powell,
I must say thanks to you and The Gleaner for all the informative articles that I have come across online. You are helping people worldwide. I am a Canadian citizen and I am thinking about adopting a child from Jamaica. Could you tell me the procedure and the average time this would take, and whether my adopted child would get a Canadian passport right after the application has been approved?
- GP
Dear GP,
You should approach adoption from another country in stages as inter-country adoption can sometimes be challenging. The first step will be to locate a child through the approved channels.
Second, you will need to submit the required application and documents to get a licence/adoption order from the courts in Jamaica. This process can take anywhere from six to 12 months after a complete application has been received. The process could be longer, depending on the time it takes for the adoption board to get the supporting documents, in particular, a home study report.
After this process has been completed, the third step is to obtain a letter of no objection from your province in Canada.
The fourth step is to submit an immigration application to Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to bring your child to Canada.
The processing time for international adoption depends on the circumstances of each case. These kinds of cases are processed on a priority basis. The average processing time for adoptions from Jamaica is 18-24 months after a completed application has been received by IRCC.
You should note that after your application has been received, it is evaluated and there may be circumstances that IRCC may deem it necessary to conduct an investigation. The purpose of the investigation is usually to ensure that the adoption is in the best interest of the child, to ensure that the child was not sold or abducted and, most important, that the child's documents are valid.
Since you are a Canadian citizen, you may apply for citizenship for your adopted child depending on how you received your citizenship in the first place. This means that once the application is approved, you will get a citizenship certificate that you may use to apply for the passport. If special circumstances arise and you cannot wait on the certificate, after your application has been approved, you may apply for the passport and authorise IRCC to deliver the passport in Jamaica through the Canadian High Commission.
I should caution you that if you are not a citizen by birth, you should pay attention to the advantages and disadvantages of applying for your adoptive child's citizenship directly, over an application for permanent residence at the initial stage.
The preferred route for immigrants is to apply for permanent residence for their adopted child, then later apply for their citizenship. This is due to the benefits that will flow to your adoptive child and future grandchildren.
Since 2009, Canadian law limits Canadian citizenship by descent to the first generation of children born outside Canada to a Canadian parent. That means that children born to Canadian parents while the parent is outside of Canada will only be Canadian at birth if at least one parent was born in Canada or if one parent became a Canadian citizen by immigrating to Canada and was later granted citizenship via the naturalisation process.
Inter-country adoption can be a complex and highly emotional procedure; therefore, I recommend that you consult with an immigration lawyer to represent you in this process.
Best of luck to you and your family!
Deidre S. Powell is a lawyer, mediator and notary public who is a member of the Jamaican and Ontario, Canada bars, with main office located in Ottawa, Ontario. Her areas of practice are in immigration, real estate, commercial, personal injury, family and administration of estates. She is on the roster of Mediators for Ottawa, Toronto and the Dispute Resolution Foundation of Jamaica. Email: info@deidrepowell.com. Subject: Immigration Fax: 613-695-8778
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