IVF babies born in India testing Canada’s citizenship laws – Hindustan Times

One of the latest complexities in citizenship:

At least two cases of children conceived artificially and born overseas are challenging Canada’s hereditary citizenship laws, which stipulate that a child must be genetically related to at least one parent to be considered Canadian. The cases involve children who were conceived via in-vitro fertilization (IVF) using sperm and egg from anonymous donors and are therefore not genetically related to either parent.

In one case involving a British Columbia couple, the embryo was implanted in the woman who hoped to become the mother. In another, the embryo was implanted in a surrogate. Both children were born in India.

The BC case became the subject of repeated court challenges after an immigration officer ruled the child, a girl born in 2009, was not eligible for citizenship through descent because she had no genetic relationship to her Punjabi-origin Canadian father, Malkiat Kandola. He was applying to sponsor his wife as a permanent resident when the child, Nanakmeet, was born.

“For the purposes of determining citizenship by birth outside Canada to a Canadian parent (derivative citizenship), Canadian law relies on evidence of a blood connection (or genetic link) between parent and child which can be proven by DNA testing,” the immigration officer explained in a letter to Kandola.

“This principle … has deep historical roots both in Canada and internationally, and it is evident from the legislative history of the [Act] that Parliament has always intended the term ‘parent’ to refer to genetic parents for derivative citizenship purposes.”

IVF babies born in India testing Canada’s citizenship laws – Hindustan Times.