The top five states where Americans qualify for a Canadian passport through ancestry

Nearly one in every three New Hampshire residents may be dual Canadian-U.S. citizens, after Canada updated its Citizenship Act in December 2025.

Compared to the rest of the country, Americans with family ties to states such as New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine have a much higher chance of having Canadian ancestry, which comes with the right to Canadian citizenship.

Get a Free Consultation on Applying for Proof of Canadian Citizenship

On December 15, 2025, Canada eliminated the first-generation limit to inheriting Canadian citizenship by descent, making millions of Americans with even just one Canadian ancestor eligible to apply for proof of Canadian citizenship certificates, with which they can obtain Canadian passports.

The high proportion of Canadian ancestry in New England stems from the mass migration of almost one million French Canadians from the Canadian province of Quebec to the Northeastern United States between 1840 and 1930, an event now known as the "Great Hemorrhage."

Here is a look at the states that have the highest percentage of residents with Canadian ancestry

State	Share of population with Canadian-born ancestry
New Hampshire	8.06%
Vermont	7.59%
Maine	7.00%
Rhode Island	4.05%
Massachusetts	3.40%

These estimates are based on U.S. Census Bureau data on self-reported Canadian ancestry in 2024. In reality, the number of Americans with Canadian ancestry from states in New England is estimated to be three or four times that number due to many being unaware of their Canadian roots.

New Hampshire

If you hail from New Hampshire, there is an almost one-in-three chance you might qualify as a dual U.S.- Canadian citizen.

This largely traces back to the mass migration of French Canadians from Quebec into neighboring New Hampshire, which shares a border. Between 1840 and 1930, droves of French-Canadians chose to settle in towns such as Manchester, where labour was in huge demand at the huge textile mills.

According to genealogist Kim Kujawski, around 23,000 French-Canadians were living in Manchester alone, accounting for 38% of the city’s population by 1910. Their presence in the mills was so prevalent that they are credited with having developed a new dialect of French.

As per data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2024, New Hampshire ranks first among American states with self-reported Canadian ancestry at 8.06%.

Descendants of French Canadians who migrated have a right to Canadian citizenship, and with it, a Canadian passport.

Vermont

Today, around 30 percent of Vermont residents have French-Canadian ancestry, according to Ed McGuire, former president of the Vermont Genealogy Library. That means roughly one in three Vermonters can now lay claim to a Canadian passport.

Altogether, this too should come as no surprise, as Quebec and Vermont share a border.

By 1860, more than 16,000 French Canadians were estimated to have settled in Vermont — more than double the number of any other New England state.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau data 7.59% of Vermont residents have self-reported Canadian ancestry as of 2024.

Maine

Located to the southeast of Quebec, and sharing a long land border with the province, Maine was one of the most accessible US states for French Canadians during the Great Hemorrhage.

Lewiston, in particular, was a popular destination. According to the Maine Museum of Innovation, Learning and Labor, by 1920, Franco-Americans represented nearly half of Lewiston’s population.

And even today, in Lewiston, there is a neighbourhood remembered as “Little Canada.” As per US Census data, around 7% of its current population reports Canadian ancestry, making it third among the list of American cities with Canadian roots.

Get a Free Consultation on Applying for Proof of Canadian Citizenship

 

Rhode Island

Around one in seven Rhode Islanders is estimated to qualify for Canadian citizenship, following the change in Canada's citizenship law.

By 1900, French Canadians comprised 60% of the population of Woonsocket, a city in northern Rhode Island. To this day, Woonsocket is still referred to as la ville la plus française aux États-Unis — the most French city in the United States.

With 4.05% of its population reporting Canadian ancestry, Rhode Island ranks fourth on the list of American states with the highest self-reported levels of Canadian ancestry.

For those looking to trace their roots, the American-French Genealogical Society, headquartered in Woonsocket, holds over 20,000 volumes of vital statistics and historical records focused specifically on French-Canadian descent.

Massachusetts

According to estimates, as much as 10% of residents of Massachusetts may have Canadian ancestry, giving them the right to Canadian citizenship in the wake of Canada’s changed citizenship law.

Massachusetts was actually one of the biggest destinations for French Canadian migrants during the Great Hemorrhage. According to the New England Historical Society, Massachusetts had the highest number of Franco-Americans in the United States by 1990, with a population of 310,636 — nearly half of all Franco-Americans in New England.

According to self-reported data from the US Census Bureau, 3.4% of Massachusetts’ total population has Canadian ancestry.

Because the bulk of the migrants were French-Canadians, some signs that one might have Canadian ancestry can actually come from their surname. Those with French-sounding family names, or names that were anglicized over time (Charpentier becoming Carpenter, Leblanc becoming White) are among the strongest candidates to investigate their eligibility.

Think you might be a Canadian citizen by descent?

If you are one of the many Americans who can trace a continuous line of descent from a Canadian ancestor, that means you are already a Canadian citizen under the new law. You can find our whether you qualify with the help of CanadaVisa's citizenship by descent eligibility checker.

To obtain a Canadian passport, however, you must first apply for proof of citizenship.

That means filing for a proof of Canadian citizenship certificate, which requires official documentation tracing your lineage back to your Canadian-born ancestor. This includes birth certificates, marriage records, and death certificates at each generational step. Tracking compliant copies of all those records is often the most labour-intensive part of the process.

Once the paperwork is in order, you can submit an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada’s citizenship department.

As of the time of writing, processing time for proof of citizenship applications is roughly one year. After that certificate arrives, you can use that to apply for a Canadian passport, which usually takes between 10 and 20 business days.

Many Americans are currently doing just that, with no intention of ever moving to Canada. Instead, they are choosing to apply for a Canadian passport as a backup option during uncertain times.

Get a Free Consultation on Applying for Proof of Canadian Citizenship