Chamber
commons
Stage
3rd Reading
Introduced
Jun 5, 2025
Progress
This bill expands who can receive Canadian citizenship by descent and restores citizenship to those who lost it under old rules.
Key Changes
- Canadian citizens born outside Canada can now pass citizenship to their children born outside Canada, provided the parent was physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days before the child's birth
- The same 'substantial connection' (1,095-day presence) rule applies to adoptions — Canadian citizens who adopt children abroad can pass citizenship if they meet the presence requirement
- Citizenship is restored to people who lost it because they failed to apply to retain it under the old section 8 of the Citizenship Act, or whose retention application was denied
- People who become citizens as a result of this bill but do not want citizenship can use a simplified renunciation process to give it up
- A new rule ensures that if a parent or grandparent died before this bill came into force, their descendants can still benefit from the new citizenship rules as if those ancestors had been alive
- The bill removes certain outdated subsections of the Citizenship Act that are no longer needed given the new rules
Gotchas
- The 'substantial connection' test requires 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada — this is a specific and potentially difficult threshold for Canadians who have lived abroad long-term
- The bill does not apply the new second-generation-and-beyond rules retroactively to people already born; the new presence-based test only applies to births and adoptions occurring after the bill comes into force
- People who become citizens automatically under this bill but previously renounced their citizenship are generally excluded from regaining it through these provisions
- The bill comes into force on a date set by the Governor in Council (Cabinet), meaning the exact effective date is not fixed in the legislation itself
- Citizenship restoration for those who lost it under the old retention rules is automatic — no application appears to be required — which could affect people who may not be aware they have become citizens
Who's Affected
- Canadians born outside Canada who want to pass citizenship to their own children born abroad
- People who lost Canadian citizenship under the old 'retention' rules (former section 8) before 2009
- Children adopted abroad by Canadian citizens
- Descendants of Canadians who were born or lived outside Canada across multiple generations
- People who may automatically gain Canadian citizenship under this bill but do not wish to hold it
Vibes
0 responses
Gotchas
- The 'substantial connection' test requires 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada — this is a specific and potentially difficult threshold for Canadians who have lived abroad long-term
- The bill does not apply the new second-generation-and-beyond rules retroactively to people already born; the new presence-based test only applies to births and adoptions occurring after the bill comes into force
- People who become citizens automatically under this bill but previously renounced their citizenship are generally excluded from regaining it through these provisions
- The bill comes into force on a date set by the Governor in Council (Cabinet), meaning the exact effective date is not fixed in the legislation itself
- Citizenship restoration for those who lost it under the old retention rules is automatic — no application appears to be required — which could affect people who may not be aware they have become citizens
Summary
Bill C-3 makes several changes to how Canadian citizenship is passed down through families. Before this bill, there was a strict 'first generation' rule that meant Canadian citizens born outside Canada generally could not pass citizenship to their own children born outside Canada. This bill changes that rule so that a Canadian parent born outside Canada can pass citizenship to their child if that parent had a 'substantial connection' to Canada — meaning they were physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days (about three years) before the child was born. The bill also restores citizenship to people who lost it because they failed to apply to keep it under an old law (the former section 8 of the Citizenship Act), or whose application to retain citizenship was denied. This affects Canadians who were born abroad and lost their citizenship under rules that were in place before 2009. The same changes apply to people adopted by Canadian citizens abroad — the same 'substantial connection' test applies to adoptive parents. Finally, the bill allows people who automatically become citizens as a result of this new law — but who may not want Canadian citizenship — to go through a simplified process to give it up (renounce it). The bill was introduced by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship in June 2025.
Automatically generated from bill text using Claude
Vibes
0 responses
Recorded Votes
| Date | Description | Yeas | Nays | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2025 | An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) – C-3 – Third Reading – Amendment (Sen. Housakos) | 18 | 56 | Defeated |
| Nov 5, 2025 | 3rd reading and adoption of Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) | 177 | 163 | Agreed To |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Concurrence at report stage of Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) | 169 | 163 | Agreed To |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) (report stage amendment) | 170 | 163 | Agreed To |
| Sep 22, 2025 | 2nd reading of Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) | 189 | 138 | Agreed To |