Canada has introduced legislation that can become a Canadian citizen on the basis of descendants, saying that citizenship “lies at the heart of what Canadian means.”
The federal government presented Bill C-3 on Thursday, which, according to him, will extend citizenship by descent beyond the first generation.
The new bill addresses the problems surrounding the current limit of the first generation of Canada.
Under this limit, a child born outside the country of a parent also born or adopted by a Canadian citizen without Canada does not receive citizenship at birth, even if the grandparent was from Canada. Although the parent can receive citizenship, his child could not.
Bill C-3 would change this, says the government, automatically giving Canadian citizenship to anyone who would be a citizen today, it was not for this first generation limit or other provisions of previous citizenship legislation.
The bill, however, goes further by establishing a framework for citizenship by descendants which would allow people to access it beyond the first generation on the basis of the substantial link of a Canadian parent with Canada. This connection is demonstrated by spending at least three years, or 1,095 cumulative days, physically in the country before the birth or adoption of their child.
“Citizenship is more than a legal status – it is a profound link with the values, history and spirit of Canada,” said Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab in a statement.
“By demanding that those who transmit citizenship to their children born abroad beyond the first generation have a substantial link with our country, we honor this surety.”
What is citizenship by descendants?
Citizenship by descent generally refers to the ability of a person to ask and acquire citizenship to a country according to their family ties, according to the British law firm Henley and Partners.
Contrary to citizenship by marriage, citizenship by descendants “is a right of birth”, but you must “activate it” by applying it through the government of this country which can legally recognize your citizenship after receiving proven documentation.
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This citizenship could be obtained by documenting your links with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents or even more distant parents who are or were citizens of this country, regardless of where you were born, by obtaining official files proving a descent line.
But there is a problem: not all countries claim citizenship for a parent.
What are the countries that offer citizenship by descent?
Canada is not the only one to continue or offer people a process to ask for citizenship by descent.
Italy has citizenship by descendants, which can be applied if you have an Italian parent, grandparent, great-grandparent or even ancestor.
However, the applicant must be able to prove that the parent or the ancestor was an Italian citizen at his birth or had the right to claim that citizenship at birth, which could be proven by the birth certificate, the death certificate or the naturalization certificate.
The process of obtaining these documents can cost several hundred dollars, because the government’s holding agencies generally charge costs for each requested document, in addition to the requests of the government of a country where a person requests this citizenship.
The request for a passport is generally a separate and secondary process.
According to the law firm International Giambrone Law, Spanish citizenship by descendants can be obtained if one of your parents is a Spanish national, the two were born in Spain, you were adopted by a Spanish national before your 18th anniversary, or you have Spanish grandparents.
Those who seek Polish citizenship by descent can do so if they have a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was born in Poland or lived in Poland after January 1920 and did not lose their citizenship at any time, including individuals of Polish Jewish ancestry, according to the Polish law firm Dudkowiak and Putyra.
Ireland also offers citizenship by descendants. While people born of parents born in Ireland automatically have the right to become citizens, born abroad who seek citizenship through a grandparent born on the island of Ireland must apply by a process known as the registration of foreign births in order to become citizens.
Canada has long adopted a different approach.
Unlike some of these countries, citizenship by descendants can currently only be obtained by born outside Canada, if one or both of your parents were born in the country, and is something that the federal government is trying to change and has tried in the past.
The federals have tried to change citizenship in the past
The government also notes that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said that the first generation limit was unconstitutional for many people, but suspended the declaration until November 20, 2025, allowing current rules to stay in place while new rules are designed.
This decision was not on appeal because the federal government said it should be that the current law had “unacceptable consequences” for Canadians whose children were born outside the country.
Earlier this year, the government then announced an enlarged provisional measure which included a means for those affected by the limit to be considered for a “discretionary concession of citizenship” of the Minister of Immigration at the time, Marc Miller.
People born or adopted on December 19, 2023 or after would also receive priority consideration if their Canadian parent had a substantial link with Canada.
The provisional measure was put in place while the old bill C-71, which sought to extend citizenship to “lost Canadians”, died on the order of order when the parliament was extended and that subsequent elections took place.
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