Prior to Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2025), citizenship by descent for those born abroad was limited to the first generation.

But now, Canadian citizenship is being retroactively granted to people born before the new law came into effect on Dec. 15, 2025, who would have been citizens if not for the first-generation limit. Different criteria, however, apply to those born on or after that date.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    2·
    3 days ago

    Germany passed a similar law in 2021 allowing citizenship for folks that had otherwise been denied in the past. I missed it by one generation. My grandfather would have been eligible, and by proxy I would too, but he passed away right before the German law went into effect.

    For those exploring the German one, there’s only a 10 year window beginning in 2021 to follow through with it. After that this path closes again.

    • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the Canadian one is even more broad. There’s nothing in it that seems to say that the relatives need to be alive, nor is there anything saying how many generations you can go back.

      Edit:

      “There’s no limit on how many generations you can go back, as long as you can prove it,” Fultz said.

      So, if this goes back all the way to the colonies, then I probably can apply, since my great-great-great grandfather was born in Quebec. So long has his birth record still counts (it was logged in a church’s record book)