Bill C-3: Citizenship by Descent Changes in 2026, Explained

Bill C-3 is the most significant change to Canadian citizenship law in years, and it is a common source of confusion because it affects citizenship by descent, a different path from the standard permanent-resident-to-citizen route most applicants take.

What Bill C-3 actually did

Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act, received Royal Assent on December 15, 2025. It removed the "first-generation limit" on Canadian citizenship by descent, a 2009 rule that had prevented Canadian citizens who were themselves born abroad from automatically passing citizenship on to their own children if those children were also born outside Canada.

Who this affects: the "lost Canadians"

The change addresses a group often called "lost Canadians": people with a genuine, multi-generational Canadian family connection who were excluded from citizenship purely because of where their parent happened to be born. Bill C-3 opens a retroactive path to citizenship for many people in this situation, provided their Canadian-born-abroad parent was born before December 15, 2025.

The substantial connection requirement for future generations

For children born or adopted abroad after December 15, 2025 by a Canadian parent who was also born abroad, the automatic first-generation limit is gone, but a new "substantial connection to Canada" test applies instead, generally requiring the Canadian parent to have spent a minimum period of time physically present in Canada. This replaces a hard generational cutoff with a connection-based test.

Why this matters even if you are not applying by descent

If you are applying for citizenship through the standard permanent-residence route (the path most new citizens take, and the one this app and website focus on), Bill C-3 does not change your requirements directly. It matters mainly because it has significantly increased demand for proof-of-citizenship applications at IRCC, which has knock-on effects on processing times across the system, covered in our guide to proof-of-citizenship wait times.