Canada to amend citizenship law; likely to benefit Indian-origin families

Ottawa: Canada has taken a significant step toward modernising its citizenship-by-descent framework, with Bill C-3 receiving royal assent and moving closer to implementation. The amendment to the Citizenship Act, announced by the federal government recently, is expected to impact thousands of Indian-origin families as well as others affected by earlier limits.

The bill, formally titled An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), marks what the government described in its release as “an important milestone in making the Citizenship Act more inclusive, while maintaining the value of Canadian citizenship.” Once it comes into effect, the legislation will retroactively grant citizenship to individuals born before the bill takes force who would have been eligible if not for the first-generation limit or other parts of earlier legislation.

The first-generation cap was established in 2009. Under that rule, a child born or adopted outside Canada is not considered a citizen by descent if their Canadian parent was also born or adopted abroad. This restriction has affected several families in the diaspora, including many of Indian origin, where children born offshore lost access to citizenship despite having Canadian parents with long-standing ties to the country.

Under the amended law, Canadian parents born or adopted outside the country will be permitted to pass citizenship to their children born or adopted abroad on or after the date the bill comes into force, provided they can demonstrate a substantial connection to Canada. The government has described this clause as a mechanism that recognises the mobility of Canadian families in an increasingly global environment.

Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said the changes aim to resolve inequities that persisted for years. “Bill C-3 will fix long-standing issues in our citizenship laws and bring fairness to families with children born or adopted abroad. It will provide citizenship to people who were excluded by previous laws, and it will set clear rules for the future that reflect how modern families live. These changes will strengthen and protect Canadian citizenship,” she stated.

The movement toward reform accelerated after a ruling on December 19, 2023, when the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found key provisions linked to the first-generation limit unconstitutional. The federal government decided not to appeal, acknowledging that the earlier statute produced unacceptable outcomes for children born outside Canada to Canadian parents. Don Chapman, Founder of the Lost Canadians advocacy group, welcomed the development. “By updating the Citizenship Act to reflect the global mobility of modern Canadian families, the federal government has made access to citizenship more fair and reasonable,” he said.

The date the law officially takes effect will be set by order in council and announced publicly. Until then, interim measures for those affected by the first-generation rule will continue to apply.