Order Fixing December 15, 2025 as the Day on Which An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) Comes into Force: SI/2025-129
Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 159, Number 27
Registration
SI/2025-129 December 31, 2025
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CITIZENSHIP ACT (2025)
Order Fixing December 15, 2025 as the Day on Which An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) Comes into Force
P.C. 2025-928 December 11, 2025
Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, under section 7 of An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025), chapter 5 of the Statutes of Canada, 2025, fixes December 15, 2025, as the day on which that Act comes into force.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order.)
Proposal
Pursuant to section 7 of An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) [the Act], this Order in Council fixes December 15, 2025, as the day on which the Act comes into force.
Objective
The objective of this Order in Council is to bring amendments to the Citizenship Act into force that establish a new framework governing citizenship by descent and provide citizenship to “Lost Canadians” and those impacted by the first-generation limit.
Background
The Citizenship Act establishes three ways to acquire Canadian citizenship:
- by birth on soil — if a person was born in Canada;
- by descent — if a person was born outside Canada to a Canadian parent or was adopted by a Canadian parent; and
- by naturalization — if a person immigrated to Canada and then naturalized as a citizen.
The Citizenship Act currently includes a first-generation limit to citizenship by descent, which means that a Canadian citizen parent can pass on citizenship to a child born or adopted outside Canada only if the parent was either born in Canada or naturalized before the birth or adoption of the child, with few exceptions.
On December 19, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice declared that key provisions of the first-generation limit were unconstitutional (Bjorkquist et al.). Remedial legislation was needed to address the Court’s decision and to implement a new framework governing citizenship by descent.
The Act was introduced in Parliament on June 5, 2025, and received royal assent on November 20, 2025. It establishes a new framework governing citizenship by descent and provides citizenship to those who lost or never acquired citizenship under previous, outdated provisions of the Citizenship Act and those impacted by the first-generation limit.
Implications
The Act amends the Citizenship Act to
- on or after the date that the Act is in force, allow a Canadian parent born or adopted abroad who has a substantial connection to Canada to pass on citizenship to their child also born or adopted abroad;
- A substantial connection to Canada is demonstrated through 1 095 days (three years) of cumulative physical presence by the Canadian parent in Canada prior to birth or adoption of the child.
- automatically give citizenship to all individuals born abroad to a Canadian parent beyond the first generation before the date that the Act is in force;
- provide access to citizenship through the direct grant of citizenship for adoptees to children born abroad and adopted by a Canadian parent beyond the first generation before the date that the Act is brought into force;
- give or restore citizenship to “Lost Canadians” who lost or never had citizenship due to certain outdated provisions of citizenship legislation; and
- allow certain individuals who become citizens as a result of the coming into force of the Act to renounce (give up) citizenship if they do not wish to be citizens.
Gender-based analysis plus
A gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) of the Act has been completed. The assessment concluded that the Act will apply equally to all persons impacted, irrespective of gender or demographic characteristics. It will support consistency and ensure that children born abroad to or born abroad and adopted by a Canadian citizen parent are treated as similarly as possible. In general, the direct benefits of the Act are broadly gender-balanced, noting that benefiting groups have notable demographic characteristics linked to citizenship status, age and geographical location (being born outside Canada). It is not expected that the Act would alter the equality in application of the Citizenship Act.
Contact
Stephanie Jay-Tosh
Acting Senior Director
Legislative Policy
Citizenship Branch
Department of Citizenship and Immigration
180 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1L1
Email: IRCC.CITDGO-BDGCIT.IRCC@cic.gc.ca