An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)

This bill changes the rules about who can be a Canadian citizen by descent, meaning who counts as a citizen through a parent, without applying for citizenship the normal way. Right now, the law generally cuts off automatic citizenship after the "first generation" born abroad — a Canadian citizen born outside Canada usually cannot pass citizenship automatically to their own child if that child is also born outside Canada. This bill removes that automatic cutoff for people born abroad before the law takes effect: anyone born outside Canada before the change, to a parent who was a citizen, will be recognized as a citizen. For people born abroad after the law takes effect, the "first generation limit" is replaced by a new test: a second-or-later generation child born abroad can still get citizenship automatically if their citizen parent had spent at least 1,095 days (about three years) physically present in Canada before the child was born, showing a "substantial connection" to the country.

The same approach is extended to adopted children born outside Canada who are seeking citizenship through a Canadian parent under the Act's adoption provisions: those adopted before the change qualify regardless of the parent's time in Canada, while those adopted after the change need their adoptive parent to meet the same 1,095-day connection requirement. The bill also restores citizenship to people who lost it in the past because they failed to apply, or applied unsuccessfully, to retain their citizenship under an older rule (the former "section 8" retention requirement that used to require action by age 28). Finally, people who gain citizenship only because of this new law, and who were born before it comes into force, will be able to use a simplified process if they wish to renounce (give up) that citizenship. The changes take effect on a date to be set later by the government, not immediately upon passage.

This bill changes the rules for who is a Canadian citizen by descent or adoption when born outside Canada, restores citizenship lost under a former retention requirement, and lets Cabinet set the date these changes take effect.

• Extended descent citizenship — citizenship by descent can now pass beyond the first generation to a person born abroad, if their citizen parent had a "substantial connection" to Canada, defined in the bill as physical presence in Canada for at least 1,095 days before the person's birth.
• Adoption parity — the same substantial-connection and 1,095-day presence test is extended to citizens who adopt a child born outside Canada, affecting eligibility for citizenship grants under section 5.1 of the Act.
• Restoration of citizenship — citizenship is restored to people who lost it because they did not apply, or applied unsuccessfully, to retain it under the former section 8, including in cases where the relevant parent or grandparent died before this bill takes effect.
• Simplified renunciation — certain people who become citizens only because of this bill gain access to a "simplified process" to renounce citizenship; the bill does not describe what that process involves.
• Commencement date — the Act comes into force on a day fixed by order of the Governor in Council (Cabinet), so the effective date is not set in the bill and is left to Cabinet's discretion.
• Eligibility determinations — verifying whether a parent or adoptive parent meets the 1,095-day presence requirement falls to citizenship officials applying the Act; the bill does not specify a review or appeal process for these determinations.