Topic: vital records - citizenship - USA / Canada

Question: Where can I inquire to find out if my father retained his
Canadian citizenship after marrying my mother, a US citizen?

Background: My father was born in Canada.  Have Canadian birth
certificate.  He married my mother - a US citizen.  I want to know if
father remained a Canadian citizen, or if he changed to US
citizenship, or kept both as dual citizenship.  Where do I look for
that?

Thank you.

Dear mr_dave,

Unfortunately, there is no online database of such information; but
here is what you can do:

If your father adopted U.S. citizenship, there must be a Immigration
Naturalization Service (INS) naturalization certificate file (known as
C-File). Those C-Files include a duplicate copy of all naturalization
records dated after 26 September 1906.

The Immigration Naturalization Service (now U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services, USCIS) maintains an index to the C-Files, and
can retrieve individual records based on name, date of birth, and
place of birth.

C-Files from 1906 to 1956 have been microfilmed, and are available via
Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request to USCIS Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. Here is contact information for a such request:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Director
Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act Program
425 Eye Street, N.W., 2nd Floor
ULLICO Building
Washington, D.C. 20536
Phone: (202) 514-1722

For naturalization records after 1956, Freedom of Information requests
should be sent to the appropriate USCIS District Office. Since I do
not know which one of the District Offices would be competent in your
particular case, please follow this link to see a directory of all
District Offices:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/distsub_offices/index.htm

To make a Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request, please follow
these instructions provided by the USCIS:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/foia/request.htm

Should there not be a naturalization record for your father, he
obviously kept Canadian citizenship.

Concerning the possibility of dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship: Before
15 February 1977, Canadian citizens were not allowed to take foreign
citizenship while keeping their Canadian citizenship. So if your
father adopted U.S. citizenship before that date, he lost his Canadian
citizenship. Dual citizenship of Canadians after that date is not
subject to special application or official certificates, except for
the normal certificates of citizenship issued by the Canadian
government that do not mention possible additional citizenships.
However, if no U.S. naturalization record turns up, you may want to
request Canadian citizenship records (subject to fees) from the
Citizenship and Immigration Canada office. See their website for
detailed information:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/search.html

In case you would like to request general information on how to
proceed concerning finding out about your father's possible Canadian
citizenship, you would have to contact the Canadian embassy or
consulate responsible for your region. You will find contact
information for all of them on this website:
http://www.canadianembassy.org/offices/index-en.asp
(Canadaian Embassy, Washington D.C.: Canadian Government Offices in the U.S.)


Sources:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Naturalization Records
http://uscis.gov/graphics/aboutus/history/natzrec/natrec.htm

Citizenship and Immigration Canada: Citizenship
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/index.html


Search terms used:
canada records citizenship
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us citizenship records
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"immigration and Naturalization  Service"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22immigration+and+Naturalization++Service%22&btnG=Google+Suche


Hope this will help!
Best regards,
Scriptor

Helpful and thorough answer.  Exactly what I needed to know.  Good
value for the fee.  Thank you.