Canada Changed Its Citizenship Law in December, and Millions of Americans Are Now Eligible to Apply

A law that took effect on December 15, 2025, expanded eligibility for millions of Americans. Bill C-3, an amendment to Canada’s Citizenship Act, removed a long-standing rule that had cut off citizenship rights at the first generation. Now, Americans who can trace their lineage to an ancestor who became a Canadian citizen, going back as far as records allow, may be eligible to claim Canadian citizenship by descent.

The legal shift followed a 2023 Ontario Superior Court ruling that found the previous restriction unconstitutional. That rule, introduced by Canada’s Conservative government in 2009, had prevented Canadians born outside the country from passing citizenship to their own children if those children were also born abroad. Bill C-3 also restores status to so-called “Lost Canadians,” people who lost or never received citizenship because of those same outdated rules.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has said it does not have an exact count of how many people qualify under the new law, but the department expects tens of thousands of citizenship certificate applications over time. As of early March 2026, nearly 48,000 people were already in the queue, with the IRCC estimating a processing time of approximately 11 months.

Documenting Lineage: What the Law Requires

Eligibility under Bill C-3 requires documented lineage connecting an applicant to an ancestor who became a Canadian citizen on or after January 1, 1947, with a separate qualifying date that applies to Newfoundland. There is no generational cap on how far back an applicant can search, provided the connection can be formally proven. If a Canadian ancestor renounced their citizenship at any point, the line of eligibility ends there.

According to Fultz, the core documents required include birth or baptismal certificates to establish parentage and place of birth, along with marriage certificates to account for name changes, which were common practice for women. For applicants with French Canadian roots, this step is often complicated: French names were regularly anglicized when families relocated to the United States, meaning a name like Pierre might appear in American records as Pete, creating a discrepancy that has to be reconciled.

When names don’t match cleanly across historical records, supporting documents can help fill the gaps. Ottawa-based regulated immigration consultant Cassandra Fultz says death certificates, census records, property deeds, and even court records have all proven useful in substantiating a claim. Archives across Canada hold many of these records, with the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec holding official documents dating as far back as 1621.

Archives Report Surge in Requests from American Applicants

According to BAnQ archivist Sarah Hanahem, the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec recorded 32 requests for certified copies of vital records in January 2025. By January 2026, that figure had climbed past 1,000, with the majority coming from the United States. Archives in New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland, and Ontario have each reported similar increases compared to the same period the year before.

Fultz says her American caseload grew from roughly 10 applications per month to approximately 100 since Bill C-3 came into effect, a tenfold increase. Having worked in Canadian immigration for 17 years, Fultz says interest from Americans typically rises after a U.S. election and then fades within weeks. She describes the current wave as something she has never seen before in her career.

BAnQ archivist Sarah Hanahem warned that international applicants should expect delays. She has noted that Quebec residents take priority at the archive, as the institution is funded by Quebec taxpayers. Beyond the queue itself, the research process is time-consuming: name discrepancies, approximate dates, and unknown parish records can all require going back to original handwritten registers, some of which are centuries old and require careful handling.

A Law With Historical Roots and Contemporary Criticism

Between 1840 and 1930, close to one million French-speaking Canadians, most from Quebec, along with some Acadians from Eastern Canada, emigrated to the United States in a mass migration historians call the Great Hemorrhage. They settled largely in New England factory towns, forming tight-knit communities known as Little Canadas, many of which left deep cultural and linguistic traces that persist in the region today.

The descendants of that migration number in the millions, according to Franco-American historian and researcher David Vermette, based in Maryland. According to applicants interviewed by CBC, many grew up speaking French at home, attending French Catholic schools, and maintaining close ties to Quebec’s food and culture. Many applicants say Bill C-3 carries significance beyond paperwork, offering formal recognition of an identity that has often gone unacknowledged on both sides of the border.

The law has not been universally welcomed. Some Canadians have raised concerns that citizenship by descent gives Americans with limited ties to the country an advantage over immigrants who have lived, worked, and paid taxes in Canada for years. Fultz points to the court ruling that made the change necessary, noting the amendment was designed to remove what courts deemed discriminatory tiers of citizenship, not to favor one group over another.