- Canada’s Citizenship Act allows citizenship to pass from parent to child in an unbroken line, but only if each parent held citizenship on the day the next person was born
- Bill C-3, passed in December 2025, retroactively recognised citizenship for direct descendants who were previously blocked by the first-generation limit
- IRCC currently quotes a 19-month processing time for proof of citizenship applications, with close to 100,000 people in the queue
Canada’s citizenship by descent rules follow a single, strict principle: citizenship moves from parent to child, one generation at a time, and only if the parent already held that status on the day the child was born.
Under the Citizenship Act, a person born outside Canada before December 15, 2025 may qualify as a citizen if there is an unbroken line of descent connecting them to a Canadian ancestor. Every person in that line must have held citizenship at the precise moment the next person was born.
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Acccording to CanadaVisa, a relative who sits outside that direct line, no matter how strong their own Canadian connection, cannot pass anything on.
Which Relatives Count
A parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, or any other person directly within your line of descent can anchor a citizenship claim. Consider a case where a woman was born in Maine in 1957 to a father who had left Quebec two years earlier but remained a Canadian citizen throughout.
That made her a Canadian citizen by descent, even though she never knew it. Her son can now build his own claim on her status, and a death in the line changes nothing: the Citizenship Act holds a deceased parent in place for the purposes of descent.
Bill C-3 rests on the same principle. Because the rules that had cut off citizenship after the first generation born abroad were found to be unconstitutional, Canada‘s citizenship department retroactively recognised direct descendants as citizens from birth.
Parliament did not create new citizens in December 2025; it confirmed a status that many people had already held without realising it.
When it comes to legal parentage, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) treats the person named on the original birth record as the legal parent, including a parent recognised through a court order or surrogacy agreement.
A biological link is not required. However, adoption sits outside this framework entirely. A child born abroad and adopted by a Canadian does not acquire citizenship through descent; that family must apply through a separate process. Step-parents and legal guardians carry no citizenship to pass on.
Who Falls Outside the Line
Spouses, aunts, uncles, and cousins cannot form the basis of a citizenship by descent claim, regardless of how clearly Canadian their own status is. A great-aunt with a Canadian birth certificate cannot pass citizenship to a niece or nephew because she is not in the direct line of descent. Her documents may still be useful, though: family files held in provincial archives have helped applicants trace the ancestor they do need.
Why Dates Are Critical
Timing breaks more claims than geography does. A parent who naturalised as a Canadian citizen after a child was born does not pass citizenship down through descent. The same rule applies one generation up: a grandparent who naturalised after your parent was born breaks the chain at that point.
One situation cuts the other way. If Bill C-3 retroactively recognised your parent as a citizen from birth, then IRCC treats you as having been born to a Canadian, whatever the family believed at the time. These two scenarios can look identical on a family tree and yet produce opposite outcomes. Any naturalisaton date sitting within the line of descent should be reviewed carefully.
Processing Times and Next Steps
If you are unsure whether you qualify, begin with the oldest relative you can name who was born in Canada and work forward one birth at a time. At each step, confirm whether the parent held citizenship on the day the child was born. Documentary evidence can take months to gather even when the family connection is clear.
IRCC currently quotes 19 months to process a proof of citizenship application, with close to 100,000 applications in the queue. If your line holds, the certificate does not create your citizenship; it simply confirms a status you have held your whole life.
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Canada announces citizenship application fees
Legit.ng earlier reported that Canada has officially stated the fees foreigners must pay to apply for Canadian citizenship, along with how long the government expects to process each application.
According to information published on the Canadian government website, the processing time for a citizenship application currently stands at approximately 12 months.
Source: Legit.ng