Canada’s Parliament has approved Bill C-3, which amends the Citizenship Act (2025), advancing the modernization of citizenship-by-descent rules. This legislative move aims to make citizenship more inclusive, particularly benefiting thousands of Indian-origin families. The Canadian government stated that once effective, the new law will extend citizenship to individuals born before its enactment, who would have otherwise qualified if not for the first-generation limit and other outdated provisions from earlier laws.
The first-generation limit, introduced in 2009, restricts automatic Canadian citizenship for children born or adopted abroad if their Canadian parent was also born or adopted outside Canada. This rule has posed challenges for many Indian-origin Canadians with children overseas. Immigration advisers indicate that an amendment is expected to address these persistent issues.
“Any Indian-born Canadian citizen residing in Canada can automatically confer Canadian citizenship to their children born outside Canada,” stated Darshan Maharaja, an immigration analyst in Canada, in an interview with Business Standard. He elaborated that Bill C-3 allows foreign-born Canadian citizens to transfer citizenship to their foreign-born children, contingent upon proving a ‘substantial connection’ to Canada. Estimates suggest that approximately 115,000 children may qualify under this provision.
The new law, Bill C-3, will enable Canadian parents born or adopted abroad to confer citizenship to their children born or adopted abroad after the law’s enactment, provided they can demonstrate a substantial connection to Canada. Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lena Metlege Diab, stated that the bill addresses long-standing issues in citizenship laws, ensures fairness for families with children born or adopted abroad, and provides citizenship to those previously excluded. Furthermore, it establishes clear guidelines that reflect contemporary family dynamics, ultimately aiming to strengthen and protect Canadian citizenship.
On December 19, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice deemed parts of the Citizenship Act concerning the first-generation limit unconstitutional. The federal government concurred, acknowledging that the law produced unreasonable outcomes for children of Canadians born abroad. Don Chapman, Founder of the Lost Canadians, stated that amending the Citizenship Act enhances fairness in citizenship access for modern Canadian families.
