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Canada new citizenship rules: Canada has overhauled its citizenship-by-descent system for the first time in more than 15 years. With the passage of Bill C-3, Ottawa has moved to correct long-standing gaps that left thousands of people, often called “Lost Canadians”, unable to inherit citizenship because of where they or their parents were born.
Here is what the new law changes, who benefits, and how it affects Indian-origin families.
Bill C-3, an Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), is a major reform of Canada’s citizenship-by-descent rules, which determine whether Canadian citizens can automatically pass citizenship to children born abroad.
Introduced on June 5, 2025, and given royal assent on November 20, 2025, the law aims to fix inequities created by the 2009 “first-generation limit” (FGL). Maninder Singh Gill, president, Friends of Canada and India Foundation in Surrey, says the FGL prevented Canadian citizens born abroad from passing citizenship to their own children if those children were also born outside Canada.
Bill C-3 seeks to restore citizenship to people excluded under that rule, commonly referred to as “Lost Canadians”.
Law firms such as MLT Aikins and Doherty Fulton claim an estimated 115,000 people, including thousands of Indian-origin families, stand to benefit once the Act comes into force.
Two key reasons led to the reform:
First, a court ruling struck down the first-generation limit in 2023. The court had granted Parliament multiple extensions, up to January 20, 2026, to pass new legislation.
Also, organisations such as the Lost Canadians Foundation and the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA) have campaigned for years to correct what they called a systemic inequity.
Bill C-3 amends sections 3, 5 and 5.1 of the Citizenship Act. The changes apply in two categories:
Anyone born or adopted abroad before the Act comes into force to a Canadian parent, whether first, second or later generation, automatically receives citizenship if they would have qualified but for the FGL or older rules, says Lovleen Gill, Barrister and Solicitor, Surrey. “It basically eliminates the two classes of citizens, one that could pass on citizenship to their children and the other that could not.”
The bill excludes those who renounced citizenship fraudulently or were convicted of serious crimes.
Barrister Lovleen Gill says the number of Indian immigrants who will benefit is not very large, since most are naturalised citizens and already able to pass on citizenship to children born abroad. But for Indian-origin families affected by overseas maternity during short-term work assignments, the change could still help more than 10,000 households.
If your grandchild was born abroad before 2025, they will almost certainly become Canadian automatically now, closing a long-standing gap for “lost Indian-Canadians”.
If you, the parent, have already lived three or more years in Canada at any point, all your future children born abroad after the Act takes effect will be Canadian at birth.
If you have spent less than three years in Canada, you will need to return and accumulate the remaining days before having more children abroad.
The law is expected to ease family planning for expatriate workers and ensure simpler access to passports, healthcare and education for their children. It also benefits multinational employers whose staff undertake overseas postings.
Although Bill C-3 received royal assent on November 20, 2025, it will take effect on a date proclaimed by the federal cabinet. IRCC has indicated a quick rollout, likely in early 2026.
