What citizenship by descent applicants need to know about Canada’s 2027 immigration plan

Canada released its 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan on November 5, 2026. If you’re an American applying for proof of Canadian citizenship, the plan doesn’t change your eligibility or limit your claim, since Canada doesn’t set citizenship targets.

The plan does affect family members who don’t share your claim. Your spouse (for example) can’t inherit your citizenship, so their path to becoming Canadian starts with sponsorship for permanent residence. The same applies to a parent or grandparent your claim doesn’t run through.

In its Levels Plan, Canada sets out how many newcomers it intends to admit each year. For 2027, Canada is targeting 380,000 new permanent residents, a number that would include any spouse, partner, parent or grandparent you sponsor.

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Permanent residents can live, work, and study anywhere in Canada, but they aren’t citizens. They can’t vote or hold a Canadian passport, and they must spend at least 730 days in Canada in every five years to keep their status. They can apply for citizenship once they’ve spent 1,095 days in Canada within five years, among other requirements.

Who in your family might be impacted by the new plan

If a relative has their own claim to citizenship, often through an ancestor they share with you, they can apply for their own proof. The plan’s targets for permanent residents don’t affect them.

A relative without a claim can’t become Canadian through your ancestor. Their usual path is to become a permanent resident through sponsorship, then apply for citizenship after living in Canada for at least three years. In most cases, you can only sponsor close family members, such as:

• A spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner;
• A dependent child, including your spouse’s or partner’s child; or
• A parent or grandparent, by blood or adoption, though new applications are paused.

You can sponsor other relatives in narrow cases, such as an orphaned sibling, niece, nephew or grandchild under 18. The plan counts anyone you sponsor.

Relative	In the plan?	What to consider
You	No	Proof of citizenship application
Siblings and cousins with the same ancestor	In most cases, no	Their own proof of citizenship application
Spouse or partner	Yes, if sponsored	Whether they have their own Canadian ancestor. If not, spousal sponsorship (66,000 target, shared with partners and children).
Child born abroad before December 15, 2025	In most cases, no	Their own proof application, which you can send with yours
Child born abroad on or after December 15, 2025	Depends	Proof application if you meet the 1,095-day test. If not, they can be sponsored as a dependent child.
Stepchild	Yes, if sponsored	Dependent child rules, unless they have their own Canadian claim
Parent or grandparent your claim runs through	In most cases, no	Their own proof of citizenship
Other parent or grandparent	Yes, if sponsored	Whether they have their own Canadian ancestor. If married to your Canadian-line relative, that relative may be able to sponsor them as a spouse. Otherwise, the paused Parents and Grandparents Program (15,000 target) or the super visa.

When the targets could affect you

Canada counts people toward the plan’s targets on the day they formally become permanent residents. You’d wait for your certificate first, then for your spouse’s application.

The Levels Plan sets confirmed targets every year for the upcoming year, and notional targets for the subsequent two years.

Using IRCC’s October estimates, we calculated these landing dates for a spouse settling outside Quebec:

You applied for proof	Certificate around	Spouse applying from abroad	Spouse applying in Canada
Certificate already in hand	Now	May 2028	January 2029
January 2026	April 2027	October 2028	June 2029
June 2026	March 2028	September 2029	May 2030
October 2026	August 2029	February 2031	October 2031

If you applied in early 2026, your spouse would likely land under the 2028 or 2029 targets, which Canada can still change. If you apply now, your spouse may land after 2029, and Canada hasn’t published targets for those years.

We assumed you file for sponsorship as soon as your certificate arrives. IRCC updates its wait times monthly, so these dates could move.

How to sponsor your spouse as a new Canadian citizen

You can’t add your spouse to your proof of citizenship application. Unless they have their own Canadian ancestor, sponsorship is the main family route to permanent residence, and subsequently citizenship.

Canada is targeting 66,000 spouses, partners and children in each of the next three years, down from 69,000 in 2026.

Eligible partners. You can sponsor three types of partners:

• Spouse: you’re in a legally valid marriage.
• Common-law partner: you’ve lived together for at least 12 consecutive months in a marriage-like relationship.
• Conjugal partner: they live outside Canada, and you’ve been in a genuine relationship for at least a year. Marriage or living together must not have been possible.

Your responsibilities. You must be at least 18 and meet IRCC’s sponsor requirements. If you live outside Canada, you must show you plan to live in Canada when your spouse becomes a permanent resident. You also agree to cover your spouse’s basic needs for three years after that date. In most cases, IRCC sets no minimum income.

When you apply, you’ll need to prove your citizenship with a certificate or Canadian passport. As a citizen by descent, you’ll need your certificate before you can get a passport. Your spouse then submits both the sponsorship and permanent residence applications through IRCC’s online portal.

Your two options. You choose based on where your spouse will live during processing.

	Outland (Family Class)	Inland (Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class)
Best suited to	A spouse living outside Canada, or one who won’t stay in Canada during processing	A spouse or common-law partner living with you in Canada
Status required	None in Canada if they’re applying from abroad	Valid temporary resident status, unless a public policy exempts them
You must live in Canada	Not when you apply, if you’re a citizen who’ll live there once they’re approved	Yes, you must live together in Canada
Conjugal partners	Yes	No
Appeal if refused	Yes, you can appeal a refusal	No appeal. Choose outland if you’d want one.
Estimated wait outside Quebec	About 18 months	About 26 months
Estimated wait in Quebec	About 33 months	About 32 months

The spousal open work permit. This permit lets your spouse work for almost any Canadian employer during processing. They can apply under either option, but they must:

• Live with you in Canada
• Hold valid temporary resident status, with some exceptions
• Have IRCC’s acknowledgement of receipt, the letter confirming it’s processing the permanent residence application

Your spouse must apply from inside Canada and can’t apply at the border. They can hold the permit for up to two years and extend it for two more while IRCC processes the application. IRCC can refuse a permit, and it can end this temporary policy.

The Levels Plan and this permit. This permit doesn’t count toward the plan’s targets, since Canada sets no targets for work permits issued to people already in Canada. Your spouse counts toward the target for spouses, partners and children in the year they become a permanent resident.

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Sponsoring a parent or grandparent

The relative your claim runs through is probably Canadian too. They wouldn’t need sponsoring, but they’d need their own proof of citizenship. A relative who gave up their citizenship, or an adoption in your line, could change that.

The new plan sets a target of 15,000 parent and grandparent admissions in 2027, within a range of 12,000 to 18,000. It holds the same target and range for 2028 and 2029, but those notional figures could change in future plans.

For a parent or grandparent without a claim, the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) offered permanent residence, the first step toward citizenship. IRCC has paused new applications and said in July it won’t invite new sponsors until further notice. The super visa remains open as the main alternative. It’s a long-stay visitor visa, so it gives no permanent status and no path to citizenship.

You must live in Canada to use either program. If you plan to stay in the US, you can’t sponsor or host a parent or grandparent.

	PGP	Super visa
Status	Paused for new applications	Open
Outcome	Permanent residence, with the right to live, work and study anywhere in Canada	Visitor status, not permanent residence
Length of stay	Permanent, if they keep their status	Up to 5 years per entry, with multiple entries for up to 10 years
Path to citizenship	They can apply later if they qualify	None through the visa itself
In the Levels Plan?	Yes, 15,000 a year	No, the plan sets no visitor targets
Who can sponsor or host	A citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian, 18 or older, living in Canada	The same, and must be their biological or adopted child or grandchild
Income	Must meet the minimum income for each of the 3 tax years before you apply, shown with Canada Revenue Agency tax assessments. A spouse or partner can co-sign.	Must meet the minimum income in either of the last two tax years. The visitor’s income can count toward part of it.
Your commitment	A 20-year financial undertaking (10 years in Quebec)	A signed letter of invitation
Health requirements	You cover health needs that public services don’t	At least 1 year of private insurance and a medical exam
Other relatives	Accompanying family members can be included	Dependants can’t be included

Explore your options for bringing your parents and grandparents to Canada

If you’re settling in Quebec

Quebec has its own sponsorship step and limits. After IRCC approves you as a sponsor, you also apply to Quebec, but you must wait until IRCC tells you to.

From July 2, 2026 to June 30, 2028, Quebec will accept at most 13,300 applications for spouses and partners. It will accept 2,400 for parents, grandparents, and certain other relatives. Quebec doesn’t cap applications for dependent children.

Quebec also accepts applications in stages, based on the date of your IRCC eligibility letter. The last window, in May 2028, covers letters dated up to May 2027. If your letter comes later, you’d need to wait for a new intake period, and Quebec hasn’t announced one. If you’re still waiting on proof of citizenship in May 2027, you could miss this window.

You’d also wait longer in Quebec, as the spousal table above shows. IRCC estimates about 63 months for Quebec-bound parent and grandparent applications already in process, compared with about 28 months elsewhere.

Where to start

Before you apply, work out:

• The ancestor your claim runs through
• The records you have for each generation
• Whether your spouse has a Canadian ancestor of their own
• Whether you plan to live in Canada, and in which province

You can check whether you may qualify with CanadaVisa’s citizenship by descent eligibility checker.

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