Canada changes rules for citizenship by descent: All you need to know

How Bill C-3 changes Canadian citizenship requirements

Bill C-3 aims to fix a long-standing complaint of first-generation Canadian citizens, whose children did not inherit their parents’ citizenship as they were born abroad.

The first-generation limit to Canadian citizenship by descent was introduced in 2009. It means that a child born or adopted outside Canada is not a Canadian citizen by descent if their Canadian parent was also born or adopted outside Canada.

Ontario Superior Court ruling

In December 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice declared that key parts of the Citizenship Act relating to the first-generation limit to citizenship by descent were unconstitutional.

The Canadian government also agreed with the court’s ruling and agreed that the law had unacceptable outcomes for the children of Canadian citizens who were born outside the country.

As per the new rules, a Canadian parent born or adopted abroad will be able to pass citizenship on to their child born or adopted outside Canada on or after the date the bill comes into force, provided they have a substantial connection to Canada.

The Canadian government on Friday clarified that once the new law comes into force, Canadian citizenship will be provided to people born before the bill comes into force, who would have been citizens if not for the first-generation limit or other outdated rules of past legislation.

Until the law is enacted, there will be an interim measure in place for people impacted by the first‑generation limit.

The changes to Canada’s citizenship by descent rules will benefit hundreds of thousands of first-generation Indian immigrants, whose children may have been born before their parents migrated to Canada.