New law proposed for Canadian citizenship by descent

Immigration Minister Marc Miller has suggested a new rule for Canadian citizenship that would limit citizenship by descent to the first generation.

If passed, this legislation will allow children of Canadian citizens born outside the nation to pass on their citizenship to their own offspring. This proposed legislation constitutes a significant step forward in Canadian citizenship regulations, which may have long-term implications.

Bill C-71, “An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2024),” could help “Lost Canadians” by restoring citizenship rights lost or never gained due to antiquated legislation. Minister Marc Miller said citizenship by descent rules sometimes exclude people with real ties to Canada, limiting citizenship to the first generation. This exclusion affects families’ housing, work, education, and family planning options. The proposed amendments aim to improve citizenship justice, transparency, and inclusivity while retaining Canadian citizenship.

To give their adopted child citizenship, parents born overseas must have spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption.

The proposed Canadian Citizenship Bill requires foreign-born children to prove residency.
Thus, non-Canadian children born or adopted by Canadian citizens must show that they lived in the country for three years before their birth or adoption to be eligible for citizenship. Minister Marc Miller said more information would be published if Parliament and the King approved the legislation. He did not explain when the bill could be passed.

Recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice rulings resemble the proposed statute. Last December, the court declared the second-generation citizenship barrier illegal. The judge argued that this prohibition discriminates between Canadian-born and lineage citizens. Despite an appeals procedure, the Canadian government declined, noting that the current rule hurts Canadians with foreign-born children.

Obtaining Proof of Citizenship: Steps and Requirements

Currently, to prove their citizenship, persons born outside of Canada must get a Canadian citizenship certificate from the government.

Applicants can apply for a Canadian citizenship certificate at any point in their lives, whether their Canadian parent is still alive or has died.

To apply, candidates must confirm that at least one of their biological or legal parents was a Canadian citizen at the time of their birth.

IRCC issues an “acknowledgment of receipt,” which marks the beginning of the application processing phase for applicants.

The most recent processing time figures show that applications from the United States and Canada can take up to three months to process. International candidates may have to wait longer for processing.

Expected good news for ‘Lost Canadians’

Children born overseas to Canadian citizens who were not born in Canada typically do not automatically become Canadian citizens due to the Citizenship Act’s “first generation limit”.

On December 19, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice declared the first-generation restriction for foreign-born people unlawful.

Minister of Immigration Marc Miller declared in January 2024 that they will not appeal the court ruling deeming a provision of Canada’s Citizenship Act invalid.

After determining that the Citizenship Act unconstitutionally creates two classes of Canadians, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the government until June 19, 2024, to alter it.

Saturday’s Globe and Mail stated that the administration wrote a new law in reaction to the court order due to discontent with Law S-245, which attempts to do the same things and its slow development.

Who are ‘lost Canadians’?

Because of where and when they were born, “lost Canadians” get entangled in the Citizenship Act’s complicated requirements.

Under the first-generation cut-off legislation, first-generation foreign-born Canadians cannot automatically grant citizenship to their offspring.

In 2009, the Conservative government created it in reaction to criticism over “Canadians of convenience,” an $85 million evacuation of 15,000 Lebanese Canadians stuck in Beirut amid an Israeli conflict.

The regulation states that strong Canadian ties do not qualify for citizenship.

Second-generation parents must sponsor their children to become permanent residents of Canada before they can petition for citizenship.

Long criticized, it is said to have created two citizenship categories: one for Canadians born in Canada and one for those born abroad.

Quotes

“The current regulations limit citizenship by descent to the first generation, eliminating some Canadians with legitimate ties. This harms families and affects life choices including where to live, work, study, and have children. We are committed to making the citizenship process fair, transparent, and inclusive to retain the value of Canadian citizenship.”

– The Honorable Marc Miller, Minister for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship

Quick facts.

Under the former section 8 of the Citizenship Act, some people lost their citizenship at the age of 28. These typically comprise those born as the second generation overseas between February 15, 1977, and April 16, 1981, who turned 28 before the first-generation ban was imposed in 2009.

Legislative amendments in 2009 and 2015 restored or granted citizenship to the great majority of “Lost Canadians” who had previously lost or never earned it due to antiquated legislation. As a result of these modifications, several people have received Canadian citizenship certificates.

On December 19, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the first-generation limit is unconstitutional, limiting citizenship by descent to people born overseas to a Canadian parent (with some exceptions). The Canadian government did not appeal the decision because we believe that the law has unacceptable effects on Canadians who have children born outside the nation.

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