Canada is rewriting the rules for citizenship by descent. They are modernizing, or nothing was going to move anyway, let’s be real. Thousands of Indian-origin families living abroad stand to benefit from this, and that’s the kicker.
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said it: “Bill C-3 will fix long-standing issues… and bring fairness to families.” That’s the official line.
The Old Mess and The Court Order
The thing is, the restriction everyone hated was the first-generation limit, dropped in 2009. It was simple, and also ridiculous: If a Canadian parent was born outside Canada, their child born abroad could not automatically get citizenship.
This created a huge group of people—the “lost Canadians”—who thought they had citizenship but were legally locked out. The law created a second class of citizenship. That happened. And then the Ontario Superior Court ruled the whole thing unconstitutional in December 2023. The federal government, smart move, chose not to appeal.
The New Rules: Restoration and The Connection Test
Bill C-3 is the government’s answer. It does two crucial things:
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Restoration: It restores citizenship to everyone who was unfairly excluded by those old, rotten rules.
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The New Test: It introduces the “substantial connection test” for future generations.
What does the connection test look like? A Canadian parent who was born abroad can pass citizenship to their child only if that parent has spent at least 1,095 cumulative days (that’s three years total) living in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption.
This threshold aligns Canada with the US, UK, and Australia, those too. It sets a clear rule for the future, but it requires proof of physical connection.
What’s Next? Surge Expected.
A court has extended the implementation deadline for all this to January 2026. That gives the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) some breathing room to prepare the system.
Immigration lawyers are already anticipating a huge surge in applications. It’s an ongoing process until January 2026.
Also read:Justice Surya Kant Sworn In as 53rd Chief Justice of India (CJI)
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