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Canadian citizenship through a great-grandparent
Give your year of birth and say whether the great-grandparent left Canada and took another citizenship before 1947.
Does a Canadian great-grandparent make you Canadian?
Line through a great-grandparent, rules of December 15, 2025
Likely eligible
| Route | Citizenship certificate (proof) |
| Who files first | Each link can apply for a certificate; IRCC checks the whole line in your file |
| Fee per certificate | CA$75 |
Each person between the ancestor and you is Canadian under the same rule; IRCC checks the chain from the ancestor.
Canadian citizenship through a great-grandparent became possible for many Americans on December 15, 2025, when Bill C-3 removed the rule that stopped citizenship after one generation born abroad. If you were born outside Canada before that date, the test is the same as for a parent: every person between the great-grandparent and you must have been a Canadian citizen when the next person was born, and the reform treats as citizens most people the older rules excluded. The question that still needs care is the starting point. Canadian citizenship only exists since 1947; a great-grandparent who left for the United States and naturalized there before that year may never have become a Canadian citizen, and the line then depends on what IRCC finds in the records. Proof comes through a citizenship certificate at CA$75 per person. A child you have after the reform date also needs your 1,095 days in Canada.
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What changed for great-grandchildren
Until the reform, Canada stopped citizenship by descent after the first generation born abroad. A great-grandchild of a Canadian, born in Ohio to a parent and a grandparent who were also born outside Canada, had no claim. Bill C-3 took that limit away for everyone born before December 15, 2025. The IRCC explanation is that people born abroad to a Canadian parent before that date are in most cases citizens automatically, and that the rule also covers a parent who only became Canadian through the reform. Applied up the tree, a great-grandparent born in Canada can carry the line down to you.
How IRCC reads a three-generation line
Picture four people: a great-grandparent born in Canada, a grandparent born in the US, a parent born in the US and you. The questions come in order. Was the great-grandparent a Canadian citizen when the grandparent was born? Was the grandparent Canadian, under the restored rules, when your parent was born? Was your parent Canadian when you were born? If each answer is yes, you are a citizen and the certificate proves it. The reform's restoration clauses in section 3 of the Citizenship Act reach people who lost citizenship or never received it under older rules, but they do not undo a renunciation after a grant or a revocation.
| Link | What to prove | Typical record |
|---|---|---|
| Great-grandparent | Born or naturalized in Canada, citizen at the next birth | Provincial birth certificate, or baptism entry if no civil record |
| Grandparent | Child of that great-grandparent | Birth certificate naming the parents |
| Parent | Child of the grandparent | Long-form birth certificate |
| You | Child of your parent | Long-form birth certificate |
The year 1947
Canadian citizenship as a legal status began in 1947. Before that, people born in Canada were British subjects. For a great-grandparent who stayed connected to Canada, this changes nothing in practice. For one who emigrated early and took US citizenship long before 1947, it is the real question: IRCC has to decide whether that person became a Canadian citizen when the status was created, and whether their child did. The tool marks that case as one to check rather than giving a firm answer. If the great-grandparent naturalized in the US after 1947 and after the grandparent's birth, the line for that grandparent is usually intact.
Records from older generations
Old Canadian records are the hard part of these files. Provincial vital statistics offices hold civil birth records, and some early births were never registered. The IRCC application page accepts hospital or baptism records when a birth certificate does not exist. A French-language parish record from Quebec can be sent as it is, since French is an official language; a record in another language needs a translation with the translator's sworn statement. The document checklist lists the US records for the younger generations.
Costs, and what happens next
Each person who wants proof pays CA$75 under the IRCC fee list. If IRCC first needs to search its own archives for an ancestor's record, that search costs CA$75. Once you hold a certificate, your children born before December 15, 2025 are covered by the same rule, while children born later depend on the 1,095-day test explained on the Canada page. The application guide walks through the forms, and the second passport overview compares Canada with the other countries open to Americans.