Toronto 
Revisions to Canada’s citizenship law are now in place, reshaping how eligibility is determined for people born or adopted outside the country.
Credit: Hermes Rivera/Unsplash
Bill C-3, an amendment to the Citizenship Act, is now in force. The law removes barriers created by the first-generation limit and other outdated provisions, allowing people born before December 15, 2025, who would have been citizens under modern rules, to be recognized as Canadian citizens and apply for proof of citizenship.
The changes also establish a consistent framework going forward. Canadian parents who were themselves born or adopted abroad can now pass citizenship to children born or adopted outside Canada, as long as they can show a substantial connection to the country. That connection is defined as at least 1,095 days, or three years, of physical presence in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption.
The reform follows a 2023 decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which ruled that key aspects of the first-generation limit were unconstitutional. The federal government chose not to appeal, agreeing that the law produced unfair outcomes for children of Canadians born abroad. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada had introduced interim measures after the ruling and will now process applications under the new legislation without requiring applicants to reapply.
The first-generation limit was introduced in 2009 and prevented citizenship from passing automatically to children born abroad if their Canadian parent was also born or adopted outside the country. Earlier versions of citizenship law dating back to 1947 created other exclusions, leading to the term “Lost Canadians” for people who lost or never obtained citizenship because of those rules. Legislative changes in 2009 and 2015 resolved most cases, restoring or granting citizenship to about 20,000 people, but some groups remained excluded.
Bill C-3 extends citizenship to those remaining “Lost Canadians,” their descendants, and people born or adopted abroad in the second or later generation before the new law took effect. It also allows individuals who automatically became citizens under the amended law, but who wish to renounce citizenship, to do so through a simplified process.
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said the changes recognize that Canadians may live, study, or raise families abroad while maintaining meaningful ties to the country.
Further details are available through the Citizenship section of IRCC’s official website.
