Bill C-3: You Might Already Be a Canadian Citizen

Here is a sentence we do not get to write often: you might already be a Canadian citizen and not know it. On December 15, 2025, a new law called Bill C-3 came into force. It changed who inherits Canadian citizenship at birth, and it reaches back through generations.

This applies to people born outside Canada with a Canadian parent, grandparent, or even great-grandparent, families who were told years ago that the first generation limit blocked them, and parents living abroad who want their children to hold Canadian citizenship.

Before this change, citizenship by descent generally stopped at the first generation born abroad. A Canadian citizen who was born outside Canada usually could not pass citizenship to a child also born outside Canada. Bill C-3 removed that limit for anyone born before December 15, 2025. If the family line back to a Canadian citizen is unbroken and can be documented, there is no longer a generational cutoff for those births.

For children born abroad on or after December 15, 2025, a different rule applies past the first generation. The Canadian parent must show a real connection to Canada: at least 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada before the child's birth.

People who qualify are not applying to become citizens. Legally, they already are. The application is for a citizenship certificate, which is the official proof. It uses form CIT 0001, costs $75 per person, and can be filed online or by mail. The hard part is usually the paper trail: birth records, old certificates, and documents connecting each generation.

Demand has jumped since the law passed, so expect a long wait for the certificate and check IRCC's posted processing times before you plan a passport application or a move around it.

Common mistakes include applying for permanent residence when the person is already a citizen, missing a generation in the document chain, submitting foreign records without proper translations, and giving up because a parent or grandparent supposedly lost citizenship decades ago. Some of those old losses were reversed by this law and the ones before it, so the family story is worth checking properly.

Cancord reviews the family line, which births and dates matter, what documents can prove each link, whether the physical presence rule applies, and whether a citizenship certificate, sponsorship, or another pathway is the right move for each family member.