By Raz Toor, Lawyer and Founder of Falcon Law PC
Many Americans discover later in life that a parent or grandparent was Canadian and begin wondering whether they may already be a Canadian citizen.
That question has become particularly important following major changes to Canada’s citizenship-by-descent rules that came into effect on December 15, 2025. Those changes expanded citizenship to many people who were previously excluded because they were born outside Canada beyond the first generation.
I’m Raz Toor, the founder of Falcon Law PC. A significant portion of our immigration work involves people living in the United States who are trying to determine whether they are Canadian citizens through a parent, grandparent, or earlier Canadian family connection. These files are often less about “applying to become Canadian” and more about reconstructing the family history and determining whether Canadian citizenship already exists as a matter of law.
The answer depends on when you were born, where your parent was born, how your parent obtained Canadian citizenship, and in some cases how much time your parent spent physically in Canada.
Can I Be Canadian If I Was Born in the United States?
Yes.
Being born in the United States does not prevent you from also being a Canadian citizen.
If one of your parents was a Canadian citizen when you were born, you may have acquired Canadian citizenship automatically by descent. If so, you are generally not applying to become Canadian. You are applying for a Canadian citizenship certificate to prove citizenship you already possess.
This distinction is important because a citizenship certificate application is different from the naturalization process used by permanent residents who immigrate to Canada and later apply for citizenship.
What Changed on December 15, 2025?
For many years, Canada’s citizenship law contained what was commonly called the first-generation limit.
Generally speaking, a Canadian citizen born outside Canada could not automatically pass citizenship to another generation also born outside Canada. This created situations where a Canadian-born grandparent could pass citizenship to a child born in the United States, but that child could not necessarily pass citizenship to their own U.S.-born child.
That changed when Bill C-3 came into force on December 15, 2025.
The new law restored or granted citizenship to many people who had previously been excluded because of the first-generation limit or certain historical citizenship rules.
As a result, some Americans who previously believed they were too many generations removed from Canada may now already be Canadian citizens.
What if I Was Born Before December 15, 2025?
This is now one of the most important questions in a citizenship-by-descent assessment.
Under the new rules, a person born outside Canada before December 15, 2025 may now be a Canadian citizen even where they were born in the second generation or later outside Canada.
IRCC explains that, in most cases, a person born outside Canada before that date to a Canadian parent is automatically Canadian. This can also apply where the person’s parent became Canadian because of the 2025 changes.
That second point is especially important for U.S. families involving a Canadian grandparent.
How Can a Canadian Grandparent Matter?
Consider a common example:
- Your grandmother was born in Canada.
- Your mother was born in the United States.
- You were also born in the United States.
Under the older first-generation limit, your mother may have been Canadian by descent, but she may have been unable to pass that citizenship to you because you were the second generation born outside Canada.
The 2025 amendments can change that analysis.
If your mother is recognized as Canadian and you were born before December 15, 2025, you may now also be recognized as Canadian even though both you and your mother were born outside Canada.
In other words, the legal analysis is not simply, “Was my grandparent Canadian?” We generally need to trace the chain:
Canadian grandparent → parent → applicant.
Each generation needs to be examined to determine whether citizenship passed through the family under the law applicable to that situation.
Do I Apply Through My Grandparent Directly?
Usually, that is not the best way to think about the process.
Canadian citizenship by descent normally operates through the parent-child relationship. Your Canadian grandparent may be important because the grandparent’s status establishes that your parent was or became Canadian.
Your own claim then depends on your relationship to that parent.
For this reason, an application involving a grandparent may require documents proving:
- the grandparent’s Canadian citizenship;
- the relationship between the grandparent and your parent;
- your parent’s citizenship status;
- the relationship between your parent and you; and
- any name changes, marriages, adoptions, or other events affecting the documentary chain.
What if My Canadian Parent Never Had a Citizenship Certificate?
This comes up frequently.
A person does not necessarily cease to be Canadian simply because they never obtained a Canadian passport or citizenship certificate.
Your parent may have acquired Canadian citizenship automatically under the law even if they lived their entire life in the United States and never formally documented that status.
For example, a U.S.-born parent with a Canadian-born parent may have been Canadian by descent even though they never applied for proof of citizenship.
In that situation, the lack of a citizenship certificate can make the documentary process more involved, but it does not necessarily defeat the citizenship claim.
What if My Canadian Parent or Grandparent Is Deceased?
The death of a parent or grandparent does not automatically prevent a citizenship certificate application.
It can, however, make document collection more difficult.
Applicants may need to obtain historical records such as:
- Canadian birth certificates;
- citizenship certificates;
- naturalization records;
- marriage certificates;
- death certificates;
- U.S. birth certificates;
- legal name-change records; and
- other official documents connecting each generation.
Where older records are missing, part of the work can involve determining what records should exist and which Canadian or U.S. authority may hold them.
What Documents Does IRCC Require?
Citizenship-by-descent applications can become document-heavy where several generations are involved.
IRCC currently requires authentic, reliable and verifiable documents supporting the citizenship and family relationship for each relevant generation.
Depending on the case, this may include:
- your birth certificate;
- your parent’s birth certificate;
- your Canadian parent’s citizenship documentation;
- your grandparent’s Canadian birth or citizenship documentation;
- marriage certificates;
- legal name-change documents;
- adoption documentation;
- death certificates, where relevant; and
- other official government records required to establish the family connection.
IRCC specifically requires official records from the authorities that created or maintain them rather than relying solely on family trees, genealogy websites, census searches, or other third-party sources.
Those sources can be useful for locating records, but they generally do not replace official evidence.
What if Names Are Different Across the Documents?
Name discrepancies are common in older family records.
Examples include:
- married and maiden names;
- anglicized names;
- different spellings;
- middle names appearing on some records but not others;
- clerical errors;
- formal name changes; and
- different naming conventions between countries.
A discrepancy does not necessarily mean the application will fail, but the documentary chain should make sense.
Where there is a significant inconsistency, I generally prefer to address it directly through supporting records and an explanation rather than hoping the reviewing officer will infer that two differently named people are the same person.
What if I Was Born on or After December 15, 2025?
Different rules apply going forward.
If a child is born outside Canada on or after December 15, 2025 and the Canadian parent was also born or adopted outside Canada, the parent generally needs to demonstrate a substantial connection to Canada to pass citizenship to that child.
The current requirement is at least 1,095 cumulative days of physical presence in Canada before the child’s birth.
Those three years do not necessarily need to be consecutive.
This creates an important distinction:
- people born before December 15, 2025 may benefit from the remedial provisions of Bill C-3; while
- future generations born outside Canada may need to satisfy the substantial-connection requirement where the Canadian parent was also born abroad.
What Counts Toward the 1,095 Days?
Where the physical-presence requirement applies, the Canadian parent needs evidence showing sufficient time physically present in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption.
Depending on the person’s history, evidence may include records relating to:
- school attendance;
- employment;
- tax records;
- immigration records;
- government benefits or services;
- travel history;
- residential history; and
- other documentation demonstrating physical presence.
The evidence needed will depend on the circumstances and the periods of time being established.
Can I Be a Canadian Citizen Without Knowing It?
Yes.
This surprises many U.S.-based clients.
Citizenship by descent can arise automatically by operation of law. A person does not necessarily need to have applied for Canadian citizenship, lived in Canada, held a Canadian passport, or previously known that they were Canadian.
The citizenship certificate is evidence of status. In many descent cases, it is not the event that creates the citizenship.
This is why the first question should often be “Am I already Canadian?” rather than “How do I apply to become Canadian?”
What Is a Citizenship Certificate?
A Canadian citizenship certificate is an official document issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada confirming that the holder is a Canadian citizen.
A person may use the certificate to establish citizenship when applying for matters such as:
- a Canadian passport;
- a Social Insurance Number;
- certain employment opportunities;
- government benefits or records; or
- other situations requiring proof of Canadian citizenship.
For a person born outside Canada, obtaining the citizenship certificate is often the practical first step toward documenting Canadian status.
Does Citizenship Automatically Give Me a Canadian Passport?
No.
Citizenship and a passport are related but separate matters.
A citizenship certificate proves your Canadian citizenship. Once you have appropriate proof of citizenship, you can generally proceed with a Canadian passport application if you meet the passport requirements.
IRCC advises people who may already be Canadian citizens and intend to travel to obtain proof of citizenship and a Canadian passport in advance where appropriate.
Do I Need to Move to Canada?
No.
A U.S.-based person applying for proof of existing Canadian citizenship does not generally need to move to Canada or become a permanent resident first.
This is one of the reasons citizenship-by-descent applications are particularly relevant to Americans. Someone may continue living and working in the United States while documenting Canadian citizenship inherited through their family.
Do I Need to Take the Canadian Citizenship Test?
Not where the person is simply applying for proof of citizenship they already possess.
The citizenship test, language requirements and physical-presence requirements associated with ordinary naturalization applications are different from a proof-of-citizenship application.
A citizenship certificate applicant is generally asking IRCC to determine and document whether the person is already Canadian under the Citizenship Act.
What if My Family Connection Goes Back More Than One Generation?
These are some of the cases that have become particularly interesting since the 2025 amendments.
For example, an applicant may have:
- a Canadian-born grandparent;
- a U.S.-born parent;
- an applicant also born in the United States; and
- no one in the intermediate generation who ever obtained a Canadian citizenship certificate.
The analysis can require working through each generation and determining the citizenship status that existed under historical legislation and the status now resulting from Bill C-3.
In other cases, the Canadian connection may involve an earlier ancestor affected by historical citizenship rules that were subsequently amended in 2009, 2015 or 2025.
The further back the family history goes, the more important the dates and documentary record become.
What We Have Been Working On With U.S.-Based Citizenship Matters in 2026
A significant part of our immigration work in 2026 has involved people living in the United States who are trying to determine whether a Canadian family connection already makes them Canadian.
Some of these inquiries involve a straightforward Canadian-born parent. Others involve a Canadian grandparent and a U.S.-born parent who never obtained a Canadian passport or citizenship certificate.
We have also been dealing with situations where the family history is clear in principle but the documentary record is not. That can include older birth records, deceased parents or grandparents, differences between names appearing on Canadian and U.S. records, and questions about whether an intermediate generation was legally Canadian even though that person never formally documented the citizenship.
Since the December 2025 changes, the legal question has shifted for many families. A person who previously appeared to fall outside the first-generation limit may now need an entirely new assessment under the amended Citizenship Act.
The practical lesson from these files is that I would not reject a citizenship claim simply because both the applicant and their parent were born in the United States. If there is a Canadian parent, grandparent, or relevant earlier family connection, it may be worth tracing the citizenship chain under the current law.
The examples above are generalized and do not identify individual clients or disclose confidential information.
A Practical Citizenship-by-Descent Checklist
For a U.S.-based applicant, these are some of the first questions I would want answered:
- When and where were you born?
- Was either parent Canadian?
- Where was your Canadian parent born?
- How did your parent acquire Canadian citizenship?
- Did your parent ever have a Canadian citizenship certificate or passport?
- Was one of your grandparents born in Canada?
- Was your parent born outside Canada to that Canadian grandparent?
- When was your parent born?
- When were you born?
- Are there additional generations born outside Canada?
- Are any relevant parents or grandparents deceased?
- Do you have official birth certificates for each generation?
- Are there name differences across the documents?
- Were there adoptions or other parentage issues?
- If the applicant was born on or after December 15, 2025, did the Canadian parent spend at least 1,095 days in Canada before the birth?
Once that information is mapped out chronologically, the citizenship analysis usually becomes much clearer.
Should I Apply if I Am Not Sure Whether I Am Canadian?
A citizenship certificate application can itself be used to obtain an official determination of citizenship status.
IRCC states that a person who does not know whether they are Canadian may apply for a citizenship certificate to find out.
However, where several generations, historical citizenship rules, or unusual documentation issues are involved, I generally prefer understanding the legal basis of the claim before filing.
That allows the application to be organized around the correct citizenship pathway and helps identify missing records before IRCC asks for them.
How Falcon Law PC Can Help
Falcon Law PC assists U.S.-based individuals and families with Canadian citizenship certificate applications, citizenship by descent, Canadian parent and grandparent cases, historical citizenship issues, document review, and other Canadian immigration and citizenship matters.
You can learn more about our Canadian immigration and citizenship legal services.
If you are unsure whether your Canadian parent or grandparent may give you a claim to Canadian citizenship, you can also QuickStart an immigration assessment and provide us with the family history and documents available to you.
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Canadian citizenship law has changed several times, and eligibility depends on dates of birth, citizenship status of prior generations, adoption or parentage issues, historical legislation, and other individual circumstances.