Canada just changed its citizenship rules & it could affect your kids if you were born abroad

New citizenship laws went into effect across Canada today that could impact thousands of families, especially if you or your parents were born outside the country.

The changes fix a problem that's been affecting Canadian families for years: the so-called "first-generation limit" that prevented some Canadians from passing citizenship on to their kids if those children were born abroad.

Here's what's actually changing and why it matters.

The old rule that caused problems

Since 2009, Canada has had a rule that said if you were born outside Canada to Canadian parents, you couldn't automatically pass citizenship to your own kids if they were also born outside the country. It didn't matter how connected you were to Canada or how much time you'd spent here - the rule was pretty inflexible.

This created situations where people who grew up in Canada, worked here, paid taxes here, and considered themselves fully Canadian couldn't give citizenship to their children just because those kids happened to be born while the family was living abroad for work, school, or other reasons.

An Ontario court actually ruled the law unconstitutional back in December 2023, and the federal government agreed it needed to be fixed.

What's different now

Back in June, the federal government announced Bill C-3, a proposal that would expand who gets to pass Canadian citizenship to their children — even if both parent and child were born outside Canada.

As of December 15, the new rules are officially in place.

According to a press release issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, anyone born before today who would have been a Canadian citizen if not for that old first-generation limit can now apply for proof of citizenship. This retroactively fixes things for people who were excluded under the previous law.

Going forward, Canadian parents who were born or adopted outside Canada can pass citizenship to their children born abroad, but there's now a specific requirement: they need to prove they spent at least three years in Canada before their child was born or adopted.

The government says this approach balances fairness for families while making sure people passing on citizenship actually have real ties to the country.

Why this happened

The original Canadian Citizenship Act from 1947 had a bunch of provisions that caused people to either lose their citizenship or never get it in the first place. Changes in 2009 and 2015 fixed most of these issues for what became known as "Lost Canadians," and about 20,000 people came forward to claim their citizenship as a result.

But the 2009 rules created new problems by introducing the first-generation limit, which is what these new changes are addressing.

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said the updated law "reflects how Canadian families live today," acknowledging that many Canadians study abroad, travel, or relocate for personal or family reasons while still maintaining meaningful connections to Canada.

If you think these changes might affect you or your family, you can find more information on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website.