Are you a Canadian citizen?

[bulldog1979]

I am a Canadian. I found out earlier this year that I was, and maybe you are a Canadian citizen too.

I'm going to oversimplify things a lot here. Changes were made recently to the Canadian Citizenship Act via Bill C-3 to correct past practices that created so-called "Lost Canadians", or people who believed they should have Canadian citizenship, but didn't. This was only the most recent in a string of legislation to fix things for Lost Canadians.

Bill C-3 went into effect on December 15, 2025, and made two important changes. First, individuals with Canadian ancestry are retroactively recognized as citizens with no apparent limit on how many generations born abroad, removing the previous first-generation limit. Second, C-3 limits the ability of those born abroad after December 15, 2025, to gain Canadian citizenship. A child born outside of Canada after that date to a parent also born outside of Canada will only inherit his/her parent's Canadian citizenship if that parent has spent 1,095 days in Canada at some point. (That's three years by days.)

In my situation, I have Canadian-born great great grandparents (and farther back) on both sides of my family. Thus on December 14, I'd have been called "Canadian-descended", but after December 15, I'm legally recognized as a Canadian citizen. After I learned about these changes and their implications back in February, I spent several weeks requesting the records I needed to definitively document my ancestry, assembling a chain of birth records that connects me to my nearest Canadian-born ancestors. I shipped out the application in early April. I was able to request urgent processing, so my processing timeline was greatly accelerated, and today (May 22), I received notification that my citizenship certificate was ready to be downloaded. That makes me officially a dual citizen. The effective date of my citizenship is my date of birth, because the recognition of my status is retroactive. Legally, I've always been a citizen of the US and Canada. It just took time for the law to catch up.

It's important to note that I'd still be a Canadian citizen even if I didn't do anything.  Two Australian MPs had to renounce their Canadian citizenship because they have Canadian-born grandfathers, which makes them dual citizens. The tricky part is that the Australian constitution doesn't allow for those with a foreign allegiance from being elected to Parliament. (Never mind that Canada and Australia share the same monarch.) These MPs didn't request to become Canadian citizens, but they had to renounce if they wanted to continue in office.

So I'm Canadian now. Maybe you are too?

[LilianaUwU]

I may or may not be a citizen of Canada, yes.

[Max Rockatansky]

I have some extended Canadian family I've only ever interacted with a handful of times when I was a kid. 

[MikeTheActuary]

I sent in my application a month ago.

[oscar]

My father's mother was born in Canada (somewhere in Manitoba, where her father ran a confectionery store), migrating with her family to South Dakota circa 1914 when she was eight years old, However, neither of her parents were Canadian-born. Others on my father's side of the family tree might also have Canada connections, since the border was fairly porous back then, and some people in the Dakotas flitted back and forth between the U.S. and Canada for economic reasons. The other side of my family tree isn't as well documented, but seems to be mainly Italian (though my mother was a British subject through her father -- which created issues with the Mussolini regime during World War II -- at least until her naturalization as a U.S. citizen in the 1950s), and probably with no direct Canada connections.

[kphoger]

I've got nothin'.  My paternal grandmother was second-generation Dutch, and my paternal grandfather was second-generation German.  My mother was adopted, but the family tree on that side is as American as apple pie:  through her line, I'm distantly related to both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

[elsmere241]

On my father's side, I have a set of great-great-grandparents who came from Ontario and Nova Scotia.  They married in San Diego.  During the 1880s when they came, about 800,000 other Canadians (out of a population of about 3.1 million) also moved across the border.

On my mother's side, I have a set of great-great-grandparents who each came from Switzerland to Midway, Utah.  So my grandfather could have taken Swiss citizenship.  If he had, I would have qualified for it too.

[Road Hog]

I'm pretty confident there are no Canadians in my family free, sadly, but if the UK ever had a similar offer, I'd jump in a heartbeat.

[vdeane]

I'm distantly related to both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

That must make for awkward family reunions.

[bulldog1979]

My father's mother was born in Canada (somewhere in Manitoba, where her father ran a confectionery store), migrating with her family to South Dakota circa 1914 when she was eight years old, However, neither of her parents were Canadian-born. Others on my father's side of the family tree might also have Canada connections, since the border was fairly porous back then, and some people in the Dakotas flitted back and forth between the U.S. and Canada for economic reasons. The other side of my family tree isn't as well documented, but seems to be mainly Italian (though my mother was a British subject through her father -- which created issues with the Mussolini regime during World War II -- at least until her naturalization as a U.S. citizen in the 1950s), and probably with no direct Canada connections.

Your application via your paternal grandmother would be very straightforward. You'd just need a copy of your birth certificate, a copy of your father's and a copy of your grandmother's birth certificate/record from Canada. Fill out the form, attach copies of two forms of ID, a set of citizenship photos and payment, and then you can ship it off to Nova Scotia for processing. The specifics of your situation might call for a little more documentation, but at the simplest, that's it. The application costs C$75, which isn't that expensive in comparison to other citizenship processes.

[bulldog1979]

I'm pretty confident there are no Canadians in my family free, sadly, but if the UK ever had a similar offer, I'd jump in a heartbeat.

The UK only offers citizenship by descent to children of British-born parents. Sometimes they'll extend that to grandchildren and rarely great grandchildren in very specific circumstances. If I could get it extended to great great grandparents... then I'd qualify, and I'd jump at that as well. I have Norwegian-born great great grandparents as well, but Norway only does citizenship by descent for children, so that's not an option at all.

[Max Rockatansky]

Apparently my wife can apply for Mexican citizenship since one of her parents was born there.  That sounds way more interesting to me since her family owns a good bit of property. 

[Takumi]

I have one great-great-grandparent born in Germany (who, if you go back far enough, had ancestors from Switzerland), and one of uncertain origin in either England or Ireland. Otherwise my ancestors were in the US almost all the way back to Jamestown.

[GaryV]

My gg-grandparents lived in Canada, presumably citizens since my gg-grandfather's family was there since about 1812. (We're still trying to figure out the exact lineage - if we get the missing link it goes all the way back to the founding of New Sweden, now Delaware.) On vacation last year, we couldn't find my gg-grandparents' graves in the cemetery where they are supposed to have been interred.

[formulanone]

My wife's great-(great)-grandmother is of Canadian descent. I cannot remember the exact number of generations back.

As for my side of the family tree, no. Although one distant relative made it to Australia (I forget precisely where) after the ship was "turned away" due to illness at Ellis Island, so I've been told. Heh, a near antipode.

[Brandon]

Theoretically, yes, I could be.  My great-grandfather was from London, Ontario, so therefore, I could apply if I wanted to.  The irony here is that another branch fought for the Patriots during the Revolution (New York) and helped capture Burgoyne at Saratoga.  Thus, I could be a Canadian citizen and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

[bulldog1979]

Theoretically, yes, I could be.  My great-grandfather was from London, Ontario, so therefore, I could apply if I wanted to.  The irony here is that another branch fought for the Patriots during the Revolution (New York) and helped capture Burgoyne at Saratoga.  Thus, I could be a Canadian citizen and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

My 4x great grandfather enlisted in the army in Concord, NH, in January 1776. He served through a few enlistments in 1776–1777 under Capt. Joshua Abbott and Col. John Stark; in 1778 under Col. Peabody, in 1780 under Capt. Webster and Col. Nichols, and in 1781 under Col. Runnells. His service took him around from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to New York and Rhode Island. The local SAR chapter genealogist is currently reviewing my documentation for my application.

On another branch of the family tree, I have a possible connection to a 6x great grandfather who was born in Virginia Colony and fought for the British. He was wounded at the Battle of Yorktown under the command of General Lord Cornwallis and take prisoner. He later moved to New Brunswick before settling in Ontario. I need to validate if one of the linkages is a biological mother–daugher or a stepmother–stepdaughter relationship. If biological, then I'm also a United Empire Loyalist.

If your great grandfather was born in London, Ontario, then it's not a theoretical. You are legally a Canadian citizen by descent already. To make it official, you'd have to send in the paperwork to get a citizenship certificate. That certificate then allows you to do things like enter Canada as a citizen, apply for a Canadian passport, etc.

[kphoger]

I'm distantly related to both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

That must make for awkward family reunions.

I don't know how long after the... umm... incident the family lines converged.

(My grandmother's maiden name was Burr.)

Your application via your paternal grandmother would be very straightforward. You'd just need a copy of your birth certificate, a copy of your father's and a copy of your grandmother's birth certificate/record from Canada. Fill out the form, attach copies of two forms of ID, a set of citizenship photos and payment, and then you can ship it off to Nova Scotia for processing. The specifics of your situation might call for a little more documentation, but at the simplest, that's it. The application costs C$75, which isn't that expensive in comparison to other citizenship processes.

I wonder what percentage of Americans have access to a copy of their grandparents' birth certificates.

[bulldog1979]

Your application via your paternal grandmother would be very straightforward. You'd just need a copy of your birth certificate, a copy of your father's and a copy of your grandmother's birth certificate/record from Canada. Fill out the form, attach copies of two forms of ID, a set of citizenship photos and payment, and then you can ship it off to Nova Scotia for processing. The specifics of your situation might call for a little more documentation, but at the simplest, that's it. The application costs C$75, which isn't that expensive in comparison to other citizenship processes.

I wonder what percentage of Americans have access to a copy of their grandparents' birth certificates.

In my case, I didn't have copies until my research projects for Canadian citizenship and SAR membership. For many states, it's fairly easy to get copies as a family member. Michigan restricts birth records for 100 years to a short list of eligible individuals. After that much time has elapsed, birth records are unrestricted just as marriage licenses and death certificates are always unrestricted public records. For Michigan, I made the requests directly to the county clerks and paid $15 each. I did so in person and had the documents in minutes. For one county for a great grandparent, I made the request online and had the document in the mail in about a week.

In the case of my paternal grandfather, he was born in Minnesota. I downloaded an uncertified copy of his birth certificate from the Minnesota Historical Society for $9 just to complete my collection of records.