Citizenship via Ancestry? 

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Amendments to the Citizenship Act limit citizenship by descent

On April 17, 2009, the rules for Canadian citizenship changed for persons born outside Canada to Canadian parents and who were not already Canadian citizens when the rules changed.

These rules did not take Canadian citizenship away from any person who was a Canadian citizen immediately before the rules came into effect.

Canadian citizenship by birth outside Canada to a Canadian citizen parent (citizenship by descent) is now limited to the first generation born outside Canada.

This means that, in general, persons who were not already Canadian citizens immediately before April 17, 2009 and who were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent are not Canadian if:

-their Canadian parent was also born outside Canada to a Canadian parent (the person is therefore the second or subsequent generation born outside Canada), or
-their Canadian parent was granted Canadian citizenship under section 5.1, the adoption provisions of the Citizenship Act (the person is therefore the second generation born outside Canada)
-unless their Canadian parent or grandparent was employed as described in one of the following exceptions to the first generation limit.

Exceptions to the first generation limit

The first generation limit to citizenship does not apply to a person born outside Canada in the second or subsequent generation if:

-at the time of the person’s birth, their Canadian parent was employed outside Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration or the public service of a province or territory, other than as a locally engaged person (a crown servant);
-at the time of their Canadian parent’s birth or adoption, the person’s Canadian grandparent was employed outside Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration or public service of a province or territory, other than as a locally engaged person (a crown servant).

The rules may also affect children adopted by Canadian parents outside Canada, depending on how the child obtained, or will obtain, citizenship.

Persons born to a Canadian parent who are not eligible for citizenship by descent due to the first generation limit may apply for and obtain permanent resident status and subsequently submit an application for a grant of citizenship under section 5 of the Citizenship Act.

Amendments to the Citizenship Act extending citizenship

On June 11, 2015, citizenship was extended to more persons who were born before the Canadian Citizenship Act took effect on January 1, 1947 as well as to their children who were born outside Canada in the first generation. Specifically, the amendments gave Canadian citizenship to persons who were born or naturalized in Canada as well as to those who were British subjects ordinarily resident in Canada on January 1, 1947 (April 1, 1949, in the case of Newfoundland and Labrador), but who were not eligible for Canadian citizenship when the Canadian Citizenship Act took effect. The amendments also retroactively gave Canadian citizenship to the children of these persons who were born abroad in the first generation as well as to children of parents who became citizens on January 1, 1947 (or April 1, 1949), if born abroad in the first generation but who did not themselves become Canadian citizens on those dates.

On June 19, 2014, the exception to the first generation limit to citizenship by descent was extended to children born outside Canada whose grandparent, at the time of the child’s parent’s birth or adoption, was employed outside Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration or the public service of a province or territory, other than as a locally engaged person.