Americans with family ties to Canada are increasingly exploring eligibility for Canadian citizenship after a recent update to the country’s Citizenship Act expanded who can claim citizenship by descent.

The change eases generational restrictions that had prevented many from claiming Canadian nationality for decades.

As a result, Americans with Canadian parents or grandparents are checking records such as birth certificates, marriage documents, and census data to see if they qualify, according to a report by USA TODAY.

Who qualifies under the new rules

To be eligible, applicants must be “grandfathered in,” meaning their parent is already recognised as a Canadian citizen by descent, according to Audrey Macklin, a law professor at the University of Toronto.

The law applies to individuals born before December 15, 2025.

For children born or adopted abroad after that date, Canadian parents must have lived in Canada for at least three years before the child’s birth or adoption for citizenship to pass on.

Potential applicants qualify if they:

• Were born before December 15, 2025
• Have at least one parent considered a Canadian citizen by descent
• Can document their family connection with official records

Those unlikely to qualify include individuals whose parents are not recognised as Canadian citizens by descent or those born after the cutoff date whose Canadian parent did not meet the residency requirement.

Documentation and processing

Applicants typically need birth, marriage, and death certificates, along with census or immigration records linking them to a Canadian-born ancestor.

However, eligibility does not guarantee approval. Citizenship applications can be document-heavy and time-consuming, with the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) estimating processing times of about 10 months.

Between December 15 and January 31, the IRCC received roughly 12,430 proof-of-citizenship applications worldwide, with nearly 3,000 individuals confirmed as Canadian citizens under the new law.

Genealogical records in high demand

The surge in applications has led Americans to consult Library and Archives Canada, which holds vital records such as census data and limited collections of birth, marriage, death, and immigration documents.

Research specialists are also available to guide applicants or refer them to additional archives.

Meghan Laidlaw, acting director of client services at the library, said online searches for records jumped from an average of 12,000 hits per day in late 2025 to 60,000 daily searches since the law changed.

While many records are available online or in person, Laidlaw cautioned that applicants may not find everything they need in a single location.

“We’ll try to help make the process as easy as possible, but that can be sometimes frustrating if someone comes and expects to find everything here,” she said.

A loosened law, but red tape remains

Although the Citizenship Act changes have expanded eligibility, applicants still face bureaucratic hurdles.

Experts say proving citizenship by descent can be a “bureaucratic nightmare,” particularly when tracing lineage across generations.

For Americans pursuing a Canadian passport, the rules may have loosened, but the red tape has not.