Canadian Citizenship Rules
The following is legal information and not legal advice. If you need further information or need legal advice, please call our Intake Line at 416-441-1764 ext. 1. This information is up to date as of May 13, 2026.
Applying for Canadian citizenship is an important way to protect your rights. While the day-to-day life of a citizen and permanent resident may look similar, the legal difference matters. Permanent residents who travel abroad for too long, or who are convicted of crimes, can lose their status. Canadian citizens are free to travel as much as they want, and will not have their status taken away, except in a few rare exceptions.
So, when can you apply for citizenship? Permanent residents are eligible to apply for citizenship once they have been in Canada for 1,095 days in the last five years (it is advisable to wait a bit longer, as citizenship officials are strict about this number). Individuals who had legal status in Canada before (such as having certain permits or being a protected person) can apply earlier. Applicants aged 18-54 are also required to pass an English or French test, as well as a knowledge test on Canadian government and history (exceptions can be sought for individuals with cognitive disabilities).
Applying for citizenship because you meet the requirements is referred to as obtaining a citizenship “by grant.” When you apply for citizenship, you can also apply for you minor children, so long as your children are permanent residents – it does not matter if the children have lived in Canada for 1,095 days.
When you apply for a citizenship grant you are essentially applying for a promotion (i.e. you are being “promoted” from permanent resident to citizenship status). This can easily be confused with the separate process of applying for proof of Canadian citizenship.
If a parent who is already Canadian travels abroad and has a child, that child is already Canadian. That child will not need to apply for a citizenship grant. They will however have to apply for a citizenship certificate, otherwise their Canadian status will not be recognized.
This system can be confusing. Consider these two situations:
Example 1: Frishta moves to Canada and becomes a citizen. She then returns to Afghanistan, gets married, and has children. She can apply for citizenship certificates for these children before they set foot in Canada.
Example 2: Omar moves to Canada after a divorce. His children still live in Palestine. After Omar becomes a citizen, he wants to apply for citizenship status for his children. He cannot do this, however, as his children were born before he became Canadian. If he wants to obtain citizenship for his children, he will have to sponsor them for permanent residence first.
In example 1, the children were already Canadian because they were born to a Canadian parent. Their mother simply needed to obtain certificates for them to prove their status.
In example 2, the children could not apply for certificates because they were not born to Canadian parents, their father only became Canadian later. They may however be able to apply for Canadian citizenship if their father can successfully sponsor them for permanent residence.
The topic of a Canadian parents obtaining citizenship for their children has been in the news. Until recently there was a “second generation cutoff.” This meant that a child born outside of Canada could not inherit Canadian citizenship from their parent, if their parent also obtained citizenship while born abroad.
Example 3: Frishta’s son Ibrahim is born in Afghanistan, but was Canadian at birth because his mother had Canadian citizenship. When Ibrahim grows up, he moves to the United States. He tries to obtain Canadian citizenship for his American-born daughter. He is told he is not allowed because he inherited Canadian citizenship despite being born abroad, and this cannot happen for two generations in a row.
The Supreme Court ordered Canada to rewrite this law. The reason for this is that the law unfairly affected too many people. Consider the following example.
Example 4: Frishta lives in Canada for twenty years. She decides to move back to Afghanistan to marry a longtime family friend. After they have two children, Frishta decides she misses Canada and makes arrangements for her family to move there. Her son, Ibrahim goes to elementary school, high school, and university in Canada. He then moves to the United States for graduate school. However, in the United States he falls in love and has a child. Ibrahim hopes he and his family can return to Canada after he graduates.
The second generation cutoff was meant to keep people from inheriting Canadian citizenship from their parents, when no one in their family had a real connection to Canada. This was unfair to people like Ibrahim, who clearly do have connections to Canada. As such, the federal government had to design a new law that was less extreme.
The law now states that “second generation” parents like Ibrahim can pass on their citizenship so long as they spent 1,095 days (three years) in Canada prior to the birth of their child. However, this rule only applies to children born on or after December 15, 2025. Children born to “second-generation” parents before December 15, 2025 are entitled to citizenship, even if their parents never lived in Canada. This is because the government has decided that the 1,095 day rule cannot fairly be applied to people born before the new version of the law was written.
The exception for people born before December 15, 2025 has led many to start asking about whether they have citizenship rights. As this law is new, it will be interesting to see how liberally the law will be applied. As always, we encourage you to seek legal advice about your eligibility for citizenship, a citizenship certificate, or any other immigration program.
Link to the Government of Canada’s webpage – Change to citizenship rules in 2025:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/act-changes/rules-2025.html