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Hello There,

Thank you for sharing your situation and question with us.

You may find the information from this thread on parental leave useful. In this thread, the moderator lists eligibility criteria for E.I. that may be relevant to your situation.

Here is an excerpt:

“13.3.5 While outside Canada
A claimant in receipt of EI parental benefits is not disentitled solely for being out of the country unless their SIN has expired. This means that the claimant who is not in Canada may be entitled to parental benefits when his or her reason for being away from work is to care for the child, and being outside the country is secondary to that fact.

As stated earlier, "to care for a child" should not be interpreted rigidly; each case should be decided on its own merit, having care for the intent of the legislation which is to allow a parent to be away from work to care for the child.”
[...]
Your friend may want to contact Service Canada directly about their specific situation and what documents or translations of documents that may be required for the application. There is also more information about Employment Insurance benefits in general on the Settlement.Org website.

We hope this information is helpful.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to post them here.

Settlement.Org Team

I have a question about qualifying for parental leave. Do the child have to be born and leave in Canada in order for father to get parental leave? I have a friend who fathered child in Cuba, the mother of the child live in Cuba and does not have any status in Canada. Will he qualify for parental leave benefit if he applies? His name is on birth certificate as father but the child has only Cuban citizenship and reside in Cuba.