This means that in most cases you’re automatically a Canadian citizen if you were born
- before December 15, 2025
- outside Canada to a Canadian parent
This rule also applies to you if you were born to someone who became Canadian because of these rule changes.
this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
479 points (98.8% liked)
You Should Know
42918 readers
535 users here now
YSK - for all the things that can make your life easier!
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules (interactive)
Rule 1- All posts must begin with YSK.
All posts must begin with YSK. If you're a Mastodon user, then include YSK after @youshouldknow. This is a community to share tips and tricks that will help you improve your life.
Rule 2- Your post body text must include the reason "Why" YSK:
**In your post's text body, you must include the reason "Why" YSK: It’s helpful for readability, and informs readers about the importance of the content. **
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding non-YSK posts.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-YSK posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.
If you harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
If you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- The majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.
Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.
Rule 11- Posts must actually be true: Disiniformation, trolling, and being misleading will not be tolerated. Repeated or egregious attempts will earn you a ban. This also applies to filing reports: If you continually file false reports YOU WILL BE BANNED! We can see who reports what, and shenanigans will not be tolerated. We are not here to ban people who said something you don't like.
If you file a report, include what specific rule is being violated and how.
Partnered Communities:
You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.
Community Moderation
For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.
Credits
Our icon(masterpiece) was made by @clen15!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I wonder if I, too, could be a citizen by recursion.
That can't be right. That's infinitely recursive...
Canada has only existed since 1867, so not exactly.
The law looks back further than Confederation. This was addressed in previous amendments to the Act.
It has to since Canada didn’t have independent citizenship legislation until 1947.
So, if I understand this correctly, if I can prove that one of my ancestors was a Canadian citizen, then all their descendants have automatically been made Canadian citizens, including me?
Yes it seems so, but only up to people born before Dec 15 2025. Anyone born after require that their Canadian parent had spent at least 3 years in Canada, in order to also be Canadian
load more comments
(1 replies)
I was hopeful for a moment then realized that my Canadian ancestors would have been British.
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Holy shit, I might be a Canadian citizen!
My genealogy might finally pay off! I have a lot of French Canadians back in my family tree. Now to track down the documents to prove it
For Quebec you can find a lot of birth records here
Looks like my 2nd great grandfather was born in Hawkesbury, Ontario in 1881! I think that means I qualify!
Lots of details captured here on how to apply and what forms you need https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/wiki/index/
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
I like poutine. Will that work?
Depends if you use real cheese curds or shredded cheese.
Shredded cheese on poutine is an automatic life sentence without parole.
load more comments
(6 replies)
load more comments
(7 replies)
My brother lives an hour from the border, is that close enough?!?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroostook_War
If your family has been living in part of that yellow area for a long time, maybe.
Unfortunately no, my bro is a “flatlander” who moved to Vermont 25 years ago or so. I was just kidding. Well, minus the sentiment, I just know I have no shot.
I strongly believe that the yellow should have all been Canadian. It's dumb having to drive over Maine when heading to the east coast if you don't want to go through the US
What if my ex was 1/4 Canadian? Do I have to re-marry her?
Can I marry your ex? I want out of here.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I did my genealogy a couple of summers ago, and found out that my maternal grandmother's family came from Canada to Syracuse for factory work, in the late 19th century.
I am definitely going to be looking into this.
That includes great, great grandparents.
Two of my great, great grandparents (my grandfather's grandparents) were born in Canada. Reading through the law, I'm having trouble identifying exactly where this makes me eligible. Can I ask for a bit of help pointed in the right direction?
I have my birth certificate linking me to my father, his birth certificate linking him to my grandfather. Then US census records linking my grandfather to my great grandmother, and US census records linking her to her (Canadian born) parents. I guess I need to find proof of their Canadian births…
Go read the FAQ on this… you are probably reading some old info. The law changed due to the old law being ruled unconstitutional. You are most likely eligible based on what you’ve stated.
What I would do is pay a lawyer in Canada to get their birth certificates.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Damn. My wife and I were just talking about this. My Great grandmother was Canadian and I thought it was too far out for me to consider going for citizenship.
load more comments
(1 replies)
So it’s blood only? My mum was Canadian, but I’m adopted.
If you were born or adopted before December 15, 2025
Citizenship may have been restored or given to people who were born outside Canada in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025.
This means that in most cases you’re automatically a Canadian citizen if you were born
- before December 15, 2025
- outside Canada to a Canadian parent
This rule also applies to you if you were born to someone who became Canadian because of these rule changes.
If this change made you a Canadian automatically, but you don’t want to be one, you can apply to give up (renounce) your Canadian citizenship.
Adopted people are likely eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship through a direct grant for adopted people if they were born and adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Oh, that's interesting. My father had our lineage researched and learned that an ancestor took the side of the British during the USA revolutionary war. He had to move to Canada after the colonies won their independence due to a campaign of harassment in which his barn was burned down.
The most interesting thing about it before now was that someone in my family history had supported the other team. Now it might have actual bearing on my life instead of just being a fun story.
I didn't qualify as a kid (which is interesting because one of the things I was considering was moving to Montreal for university which would probably have lead to a very different life than I have now), but the law changes allowed me to later claim citizenship (under the 2009 change, IIRC). There is (or at least was when I did) a fair amount of documentation to write and provide about all your relatives so be ready for that.
I am a 4th generation Canadian. I guess I am safe.
Do you have to apply or is it automatic? If automatic I can see potential for another round of eligibility issues in Australia's parliament coming up - you can't be a member of parliament while holding another citizenship and unknown/forgotten citizenships have caught people out before.
You have to apply as you have to prove that you qualify for the Citizenship (you present your family tree with proofs of births and marriages and whatever is needed to reach that "canadian ancestor"), once it is done, you get a "Proof of Citizenship", that is what will then allow you to apply for Passport, Driving License, jobs... It kinda becomes your "birth certificate". Now, to note, I got this in 2014 due to my mother being born Canadian (and me not) and it took me over a year to get my paperwork (close to two) and there is not a "temporary citizen" status, so you have yo wait until you get it to come to Canada (barring visiting of course). With the influx of submissions that this change will create you can expect those times to increase (unless they open a specific channel for it 🤞).
load more comments
(1 replies)
Neat. My grandfather moved to America from New Brunswick.
Do you have a source to read more?
load more comments
(1 replies)
view more: next ›