06 June 2025 - Canada Introduces Bill to Expand Citizenship by Descent Beyond First Generation
Canada introduces proposed citizenship by descent legislation
Nicholas Keung (The Star, 05/06/2025)
The federal government has tabled a new bill that would allow Canadians born abroad to pass citizenship by descent to children born overseas via a test to prove family ties to the country. Bill C-3 is meant to satisfy a court order that has ruled the current two-generation cut-off provisions of the Citizenship Act is unconstitutional because it limits the automatic passage of citizenship to the first generation of Canadians who were born outside Canada.
Liberals introduce ‘citizenship by descent’ legislation
Lynn Chaya and Luca Caruso-Moro (CTV News, 05/06/2025)
Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act, would automatically give citizenship to anyone who would be a citizen today if not for the first-generation limit. Under the current rules, a Canadian citizen born outside Canada cannot pass their citizenship to their kid if that child was also born outside the country. The new legislation would allow access to citizenship beyond the first generation so long as the parent has spent at least 1,095 consecutive days, or three years, physically in Canada prior to the birth of their child. A news release from the federal government says the law would work “in a way that is inclusive and protects the value of Canadian citizenship.”
Bill C-3: An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (Government of Canada, 05/06/2025)
Canada’s Citizenship Act contains a first-generation limit to citizenship by descent for individuals born abroad, which generally means that a Canadian citizen parent can only pass on citizenship to a child born outside Canada if the parent was either born or naturalized in Canada before the birth of the child. Canadians born or naturalized in Canada before adopting a child abroad can apply for a direct grant of citizenship for the adopted child.
What is citizenship by descent? A look at Canada’s new proposal
Sean Previl (Global News, 05/06/2025)
Canada has introduced legislation that would expand on who can become a Canadian citizen on the basis of descent, saying holding citizenship “lies at the heart of what it means to be Canadian.” The federal government introduced Bill C-3 on Thursday, which it says will extend citizenship by descent beyond the first generation. The new bill tackles issues that surrounds Canada’s current first-generation limit. Under that limit, a child born outside the country to a parent also born or adopted by a Canadian citizen while not in Canada does not receive citizenship upon birth, even though the grandparent was from Canada. While the parent could receive citizenship, their child could not.
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