Citizenship by descent has been one of the most rapidly evolving areas of Canadian citizenship law in recent years. The current framework is the result of a constitutional challenge, a declaration that the first-generation limit was unconstitutional, repeated legislative delays, the eventual passage of Bill C-3, and significant operational challenges as IRCC implemented the new […]
Recently, several approved citizenship-by-descent applicants (the exact number is unknown) — people who applied under Bill C-3 , were approved, and received Canadian citizenship certificates from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) — have now received letters from that same department informing them that their files have been reopened and asking them to surrender the […]
After much anticipation following the Ontario Superior Court’s decision in Bjorkquist v. Canada, which struck down the first-generation limit (“FGL”) on citizenship by descent, Parliament has now fundamentally revised Canada’s citizenship regime. The federal government has reshaped the framework governing citizenship by descent, removing the rigid second-generation cut-off that had excluded thousands of families. The […]
