If you read the summary you will have enough knowledge to answer these simple Vote Questions Below.
An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)
Bill type: House Government
Bill Sponsor: Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
BILL C-3 — SUMMARY An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)
Bill C-3 rewrites the rules for who qualifies as a Canadian citizen by birth, descent and adoption. It restores citizenship to people who lost it under old rules, extends citizenship to more Canadians born or adopted abroad, and introduces a "substantial connection to Canada" test for second-generation births outside Canada. It received Royal Assent on November 20, 2025.
WHO GAINS POWER
The Governor in Council gains authority to set the date this Act comes into force — meaning the entire citizenship expansion sits on hold until Cabinet decides to activate it, with no deadline required.
The government gains a new gatekeeping tool — the "substantial connection to Canada" test — that determines whether a Canadian citizen living abroad can pass citizenship to their child. The definition of "substantial connection" is not set in the statute itself; it is left to regulation.
Immigration officials gain expanded record-keeping and reporting obligations for a new category of citizens — those who become citizens as a result of this Act coming into force — tracked separately under the reporting framework in section 27.
WHO LOSES POWER
Canadians living abroad lose automatic citizenship transmission to their children after the first generation. A Canadian citizen born outside Canada must now prove a "substantial connection to Canada" — at least 1,095 days of physical presence before their child's birth — or their child does not qualify for citizenship by descent.
Adopted children of Canadians living abroad face the same restriction. If the adoptive parent was born outside Canada and cannot meet the 1,095-day presence requirement, the adoption does not confer citizenship.
People who lost citizenship under the old section 8 retention rules — those who failed to apply to keep their citizenship or whose application was denied — regain citizenship under this Act, but only once Cabinet sets the coming-into-force date.
WHO GAINS MONEY
Immigration lawyers and consultants gain new business as Canadians abroad navigate the "substantial connection" test, presence calculations and the simplified renunciation process created for those who don't want the citizenship this Act automatically confers.
The federal government gains a larger citizen registry — and the administrative budget that comes with managing it — as thousands of previously excluded Canadians are added to the citizenship rolls.
WHO LOSES MONEY
Canadians living abroad who cannot meet the 1,095-day presence requirement face the cost of either returning to Canada long enough to qualify or losing the ability to pass citizenship to their children.
Newly restored citizens who want to renounce the citizenship this Act automatically gives them must go through a formal renunciation process — with associated fees and paperwork — even though they never applied for citizenship in the first place.
THE SUBSTANTIAL CONNECTION TEST
The 1,095-day physical presence requirement is the most consequential clause in this bill for most Canadians. It determines whether a Canadian living abroad can pass citizenship to their child or adopted child.
What the bill does not define:
- ❌ What counts as "physical presence" — travel, work, study, military service
- ❌ How presence is calculated or verified
- ❌ What happens if records don't exist for the required period
- ❌ Whether exceptions apply for Canadians serving abroad in government or military roles
All of that is left to regulation — written after the bill passes, without a parliamentary vote.
WHO HOLDS THE SYSTEM ACCOUNTABLE?
The citizenship expansion and the presence test are NOT accountable to:
- ❌ Parliament — the coming-into-force date is set by Cabinet order, not parliamentary vote; the Act can sit dormant indefinitely
- ❌ Independent review — no statutory review date is built into the bill
- ❌ Affected Canadians — those automatically restored to citizenship have no advance notice mechanism built into the statute
- ❌ Courts (on presence calculations) — presence determinations are administrative decisions subject only to standard judicial review, not an independent appeals tribunal
[Source: Bill C-3 — An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), Assented to November 20, 2025]