TEMPORARY RESIDENT
Before considering the issuance of a facilitation visa, officers must verify the status and identity of the applicant through written confirmation from a consular officer that the client has a Canadian passport on record or documentary evidence of citizenship (DEC).
Some circumstances that might warrant the issuance of a facilitation visa include the following:
- when new, replacement or emergency passports cannot be issued in a sufficiently timely fashion and where the travel is urgent:
- for Canadians in distress (lost/stolen documents);
- for dual nationals coming to Canada for the first time;
- for dual nationals who did not obtain a Canadian passport prior to leaving Canada; and
- for children born in Canada to foreign nationals who have returned to their country and do not wish to assert their Canadian citizenship acquired automatically at birth.
- for children who go through the citizenship adoption process overseas and where their country of birth only allows them to leave on that country’s national passport.
- for presumptive Canadians under the age of 18 who are coming to Canada either to reside with their Canadian parent(s) or for humanitarian and compassionate reasons as determined by the visa officer.
The person must also be in possession of a valid foreign national passport or travel document in order for the facilitation visa to be issued. Satisfactory evidence (a Canadian birth certificate, citizenship certificate, etc.) must be presented to prove that at least one parent is Canadian and the visa officer must be satisfied of the parent-child relationship.