Birth certificates prove nothing - ask Frederick Forsythe & John Stonehouse.

You'll need a chain of evidence that shows your mother is the person named on the birth certificate.

If she is travelling on an Oz passport then she must have, at some time, become naturalised as an Oz citizen. Prior to that, unless a child, she would have had to have a passport in order to travel to Oz in the first place

What I have learned from this thread:

a) Don't trust what others say about citizenship rules. There are a lot of old wive's tales, outdated information, misunderstandings of the rules. Do your research into the laws of the countries that you are concerned about.

b) Do not only be concerned about your own citizenship. Find out what the rules are that apply to your children. It seems that in some circumstances you may need to take certain actions to ensure that your child can establish their citizenship. For example, it is not clear what happens when a child is born outside the U. S. to one American citizen who has never resided in the United States and one non-American citizen. It appears, based on the Child citizenship Act of 2000 that they can acquire citizenship by being admiited as a lawful permanent immigrant before the age of 18. This is automatic. Alternatively, if they are admitted to the U. S. before they are 18 under non-immigrant status, they can establish their citizenship by applying for a certificate of citizenship. What is not clear, is what happens if they never visit the U.S. before they are 18. It seems worthwhile for children of one American parent to take positive steps to establish their citizenship rights to avoid this situation.

My odd question in this thread.

I'm presently a dual US/Spanish citizen. My father was born in Spain, and held both a Spanish and US passport till his death, so I was entitled to Spanish citizenship, and I took it.

My wife is dual US/Canadian. She was born in Canada to an American father and a Canadian mother.

I've been pondering what the possibility of me getting Canadian citizenship (or at least the right to live in Canada) based on having a Canadian spouse... even though we're both also US citizens, and presently reside in the US.

You can apply for permanent residency on the basis of having a Canadian spouse. She would have to promise to support you (so you don't claim any welfare or other public benefits) for 3 years and show evidence that she plans to return to Canada with you. You'll have to undergo a medical check and pass criminal and security checks.

If you are granted permanent residency, you then have to spend at least 2 years out of every 5 in Canada (or outside of Canada while accompanying your Canadian spouse) to keep it.

Finally, in order to apply for Citizenship, you must have lived at least 3 out of the last 4 years in Canada, the last two of which must have been as a permanent resident.

So, if you have no intention of residing in Canada, there's probably not much point. One other thing that should be mentioned is that if you have kids, they will be Canadian citizens by birth but will lose it if they have not made an application to retain it before they turn 28. They will have to show that they lived in Canada for the year prior to applying or had a substantial connection to Canada.

For more details on all of these issues, check out Citizenship and Immigration's website at http://www.cic.gc.ca.

Ok, but I have already proved she is my mother to get my right of Abode. My birth certificate proved that my mother was the person named on her birth certificate.

She was born in 1948 when Australian citizenship did not yet exist, when it came into effect on Jan 26, 1949 she automatically acquired it as both her parents were Australian, although she had not yet been to Australia.

Provided you have your mother's birth certificate and your birth certificate indicating you are her son, I would have thought you'd be ok. As an idea, I had to provide the following (off the top of my head):

- my British birth certificate
- my parents' passports from the time of my birth
- my parents' marriage certificate (Why? Don't ask me!)
- my parents' birth certificates (Again, not sure why.)
- a letter from the Home Office confirming my parents' permanent residency