Commonwealth Citizenship
Under British law, Canadians are Commonwealth citizens and hence are entitled to certain rights in the United Kingdom:
- access to the British working holiday visa scheme
- for those with a British born grandparent, access to the UK Ancestry Entry Clearance
- for those born before 1983 who meet the requirements, Right of Abode in the United Kingdom
- if resident in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, the right to vote and stand for public office there
Commonwealth citizenship also imparts rights within other Commonwealth realms although many of these have now been repealed.
- While abroad in a country where Canada does not have a consular office, Canadians may receive assistance from an Australian consular office under the Canada-Australia Consular Services Sharing Agreement. In areas where neither Country is represented Canadians may receive assistance from a British office. In cases where a Canadian needs an emergency travel document and Canada does not maintain a consular office, Canadians may obtain, as Commonwealth citizens, a British emergency passport.
Read more about this topic: Canadian Nationality Law
Famous quotes containing the words commonwealth and/or citizenship:
“By this unprincipled facility of changing the state as often, and as much, and in as many ways as there are floating fancies or fashions, the whole chain and continuity of the commonwealth would be broken. No one generation could link with the other. Men would become little better than the flies of a summer.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“To see self-sufficiency as the hallmark of maturity conveys a view of adult life that is at odds with the human condition, a view that cannot sustain the kinds of long-term commitments and involvements with other people that are necessary for raising and educating a child or for citizenship in a democratic society.”
—Carol Gilligan (20th century)