Thousands of American felons have right to enter Canada without rehabilitation, under Canada’s new citizenship law

U.S. citizens with criminal records used to face a high bar when seeking entry to Canada.

For many Americans, that’s no longer the case, in the wake of changes to Canada's Citizenship Act.

Last December, the Canadian government removed the generational limit for inheriting Canadian citizenship for anyone born prior to December 15, 2025, anywhere in the world.

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At the stroke of a pen, millions of Americans gained the right to Canadian citizenship, due to the high levels of Canadian ancestry in the United States.

Having even a single Canadian ancestor, such as a great-great-grandparent, confers the right to citizenship by descent.

A criminal record poses no obstacle to entering Canada for individuals who are now, under Canadian law, considered to be U.S.-Canadian dual citizens on the basis of their ancestry.

As citizens, they have the right to enter Canada.

All that’s needed is satisfying border officials of their identity and their Canadian citizenship.

U.S. citizens with criminal records who are not eligible for Canadian citizenship by descent face a different picture: they could be denied entry even for U.S. misdemeanors, such as a driving under the influence (DUI) charge.

If they don’t have Canadian citizenship or permanent residence, a U.S. citizen is considered a foreign national under Canadian law.

For foreign nationals, entry to Canada is never guaranteed. It is always granted at the sole discretion of border officials, who must be satisfied that the foreign national meets all Canada’s entry requirements for temporary residents, which include not having a criminal history considered serious under Canadian law.

Foreign nationals who are considered inadmissible to Canada on account of criminality have only three options for gaining entry:

Applying for a temporary resident permit (TRP);
Qualifying for deemed rehabilitation; or
Applying for criminal rehabilitation.

A temporary resident permit (TRP) is granted only under exceptional circumstances, in which a foreign national’s need to enter Canada is found to outweigh their potential risk to Canadian society. A TRP is like a hall pass: it provides the holder with only an ad hoc, limited-time exemption to criminal inadmissibility.

Deemed rehabilitation and individual criminal rehabilitation each have complex, strict requirements, requiring at least 5 or 10 years to have passed, along with proof that the foreign national no longer poses a threat to society.

All three options have difficult, subjective tests, requiring that an applicant undergo heavy lifting to convince an immigration officer of the merits of their case.

Applicants for proof of Canadian citizenship, in contrast, face no daunting subjective standard.

A citizen by descent is, by definition, considered to be a Canadian citizen under Canada’s Citizenship Act.

It is the Citizenship Act that grants them the right to Canadian citizenship. An application for a proof of Canadian citizenship certificate is simply requesting that Canada’s citizenship department issue an official document that validates that the holder is, in fact, a Canadian citizen.

For Americans who are eligible on the basis of their ancestry, whether or not they have a criminal record has no effect whatsoever on what is required in their application to Canada’s citizenship department.

Any American with the necessary ancestry and the required documentation can mail an application to Canada’s citizenship department for a proof of Canadian citizenship certificate, which they can use to obtain a Canadian passport.

If an applicant for citizenship by descent submits a complete, compliant application package, including compliant copies of the required official documents as evidence of their descent from a Canadian citizen, meeting those objective criteria is all that’s necessary for an officer to process their application and issue them a proof of citizenship certificate.

As of the time of writing, the processing time for proof of Canadian citizenship applications is 12 months, up from 5 months in July of 2025.

Once a Canadian citizen by descent receives their proof of citizenship certificate, they can apply for a Canadian passport, the processing time for which is 10–20 days, not including mailing time, as of the time of writing.

This spring, thousands of Americans have been applying, motivated by the prospects of a backup passport, a youth work permit program stretching across 36 countries, and publicly funded education and healthcare: for themselves, and for their children.

Over the next few years, we may see thousands of newly minted U.S.-Canadian dual citizens admitted to Canada each year, with border officials paying no regard to their criminal history.

As citizens, they can never be required to prove rehabilitation; they need only prove their ancestry.

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