Bill C-3 Citizenship Act

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An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)

Bill Type:  House Government 

Bill Sponsor:  Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Status: Royal Assent — November 20, 2025. This Bill came into force on December 15, 2025 and is now Law.

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes

What is this Bill For?

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.

Status: Royal Assent — November 20, 2025. This Bill is now law. It comes into force by Cabinet order — no date has been set.

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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 Government decides to activate it, with no deadline required
  • Government administers the new "substantial connection to Canada" test, which determines whether certain Canadian citizens born or adopted abroad can pass citizenship to a child born or adopted outside Canada. The Act defines the test as at least 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption. Regulations and Government procedures set the documents and evidence required to prove those days.
  • 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

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 regained citizenship when the Act came into force on December 15, 2025.

    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
  • 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 complete a formal renunciation process and provide the required paperwork even though they never applied for citizenship in the first place. Government does not charge a renunciation fee to people who automatically became citizens because of the 2025 changes.

THE CATCH

Bill C-3 expands Canadian citizenship to thousands of people previously excluded — but the most consequential parts of the Bill are not in the expansion. They are in what the Bill leaves undefined and who controls when it takes effect.

The Act defines a substantial connection to Canada as at least 1,095 cumulative days of physical presence in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption. Regulations and Government procedures determine what documents are required to prove those days and how applications are verified. The Act also contains exceptions connected to certain Canadian Armed Forces and Crown service.

The Accountability Gaps:

  • No statutory review date — Parliament has no built-in mechanism to assess whether the presence test is working or being applied fairly
  • No advance notice for restored citizens — Canadians automatically restored to citizenship have no notification mechanism built into the statute
  • Presence determinations are administrative decisions subject only to standard Judicial Review — not an independent appeals Tribunal

⚠️ Proof Set Through Regulation — The Act sets the 1,095-day physical presence requirement. Regulations and Government procedures set the evidence and application rules used to prove that requirement.

⚠️ No Statutory Review — No independent review date is built into the Bill. Once passed, the presence test and its regulatory definition operate without a mandatory Parliamentary reassessment.

⚠️ Silent Restoration — Canadians automatically restored to citizenship under this Act have no advance notice mechanism built into the statute. Restoration happens by operation of Law — with no requirement that affected individuals be informed.