The number of Americans who can pursue dual citizenship with Canada has grown exponentially, following an amendment to the Citizenship Act in December of 2025.
In fact, under the updated law, many Americans already are Canadian citizens by descent — they just have to apply to prove this fact.
For those Americans eligible, this route poses one of the fastest ways to move to avail all the rights of a Canadian citizen — saving years’ worth of time, money, and additional effort in language tests, educational assessments, and more.
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What is the citizenship by descent route?
Americans have two ways to hold dual citizenship with Canada. You can immigrate, obtain permanent residence, and naturalize. Or you can inherit it.
These two options carry drastically different timelines:
| Citizenship by descent | Naturalization | |
| What you need to start | One Canadian ancestor, plus documents for each generation | Canadian permanent residence |
| Must you move to Canada? | No | Yes |
| Physical presence in Canada | None | 1,095 days (~three years) within the previous five years |
| Language test | No | Yes |
| Citizenship exam | No | Yes |
| Oath ceremony | No | Yes |
| Current processing time | 19 months | 6-12 months, after the years above |
Note that gaining Canadian permanent residence (PR) can be a multi-year long process, whether through economic pathways (like Express Entry or Provincial Nominee Programs) or family sponsorship.
It is only after obtaining PR and meeting the physical presence requirement that an individual can apply to naturalize to Canadian citizenship.
In contrast, citizenship by descent (via a proof of citizenship application) can be applied for immediately, and does not require you to have ever lived (or even plan to live) in Canada.
Does the new law apply to me?
Citizenship by descent used to stop after one generation born outside Canada; a cap called the first-generation limit that Parliament added to the Citizenship Act in 2009.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that cap unconstitutional in December 2023, and Bill C-3 removed it on December 15, 2025—effectively widening the citizenship by descent pathway substantially.
As a result of this ruling, most people born before that date with a direct line of descent to a Canadian citizen is now a Canadian citizen themselves—regardless of how many generations had passed, or whether generations in between held a Canadian passport.
If your line qualifies, you are a Canadian citizen today. You apply for proof of Canadian citizenship, a certificate confirming what the law already says about you.
It’s worth noting that there is a third way to immediately become a Canadian citizen – through birthright citizenship. Canada grants citizenship to anyone born on its soil, though no one can influence where they were born.
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Clues that a Canadian sits in your family tree
Start with one question. Did anyone in your direct line leave Canada for the United States?
Millions of people crossed south from Canada to the US over the previous centuries. Maritimers went to Boston in such numbers that Nova Scotians called New England “the Boston States.” Ontario farm families moved into Michigan. Prairie homesteaders drifted into the Dakotas and Montana.
The largest stream ran out of Quebec: Between 1840 and 1930, close to 900,000 French-speaking Canadians left for the textile mills of New England, filling Lewiston, Manchester, Lowell, Fall River and Woonsocket. They built French parishes, newspapers and schools. Then three generations passed. The children learned English, the parishes closed, and the documents went into a drawer.
Three criteria may help you identify whether your family line has a Canadian hidden somewhere:
Where your family settled. Roughly one in four New Englanders may now qualify, and New Hampshire ranks near the top by share of eligible population. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin carry their own share. So does Louisiana, where the Acadians the British expelled in 1755 became the Cajuns. Several states now rank as eligibility hotspots.
Your last name. An American named Tremblay is about 114 times more likely to have Canadian roots than the average surname suggests. For an Ouellet, the figure reaches 368. Roy and Desjardins skew the same way. Mill clerks and border agents also flattened thousands of these names into English, so White, King, Wood and Greenwood hide the link in plain sight. Surnames from anywhere else in the world carry no such signal, which makes the family story matter more.
What your family says. Listen for summers spent “up north,” or for a house sold in Windsor, Ontario, or a cousin nobody visits in Halifax. In Franco-American families, listen for a Mémère and Pépère nobody can place on a map.
As you search further up your family tree, you have a greater likelihood of finding a Canadian ancestor.
What a second citizenship changes
Both Canada and the United States recognize dual citizenship, enabling those with both passports to experience the full benefits of each at the same time.
Your taxes stay where they are. Canada taxes the people who live in Canada, and citizenship on its own creates no filing obligation. You keep filing where you file now, and you file nothing with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Moving north would change that. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income no matter where they live, so you would file in both countries. The Canada-US tax treaty and foreign tax credits stop most people from paying twice on the same dollar.
The certificate gives you the right to live and work anywhere in Canada without a permit or an employer sponsor. You can apply for provincial health coverage once you meet the residency rules. Canada cannot deport a citizen, and it cannot turn one away at the border.
You can also apply for a Canadian passport. Canadian-American dual citizens fly into Canada on either passport, though carrying both saves questions at check-in.
Your children inherit the citizenship if they were born before December 15, 2025. For a child born after that date, you would first fulfill a1,095-days residency requirement in Canada.
Find out if you already hold Canadian citizenship with CanadaVisa’s citizenship by descent eligibility checker.
Get a Free Consultation on Applying for Proof of Canadian Citizenship