Citizenship Application Checklist
The fixed checklist for an adult grant of citizenship in Canada, taken in order from IRCC's Document Checklist, CIT 0007: every item, the form number behind it, and the cases where extra documents apply.
How to Start Checking If You Are Already a Canadian Citizen Under Bill C-3
Bill C-3 removed the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent in some situations. Two date branches decide whether you may already be a citizen, and a citizenship certificate application is how IRCC confirms it.
Applies in: across Canada
The short answer
Bill C-3 may already have made you a Canadian citizen, and the only way to know for sure is to apply for proof. On December 15, 2025, Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2025), came into effect and removed the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent in some situations. If you were born or adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later before that date, you are in most cases automatically a Canadian citizen. If you were born or adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later on or after that date, your Canadian parent must have spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before your birth or adoption. Either way, citizenship by descent is not a grant application, a test, or a ceremony: it is a status you may already hold, confirmed when IRCC reviews an application for a citizenship certificate and issues the certificate as proof.
This guide is about descent only. It does not cover applying for a grant of citizenship as a permanent resident, tracking residency days, or preparing for the citizenship exam. Those processes have their own guides on this site. This guide gives process information only and does not advise you on whether you qualify.
What Bill C-3 changed
Before Bill C-3, Canadian citizenship by descent was limited to the first generation born outside Canada. A Canadian citizen could only pass on citizenship to a child born or adopted outside Canada if the parent was born or naturalized in Canada before the child's birth or adoption. On December 19, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found that parts of that first-generation limit were unconstitutional. The government did not appeal. Bill C-3 was introduced on June 5, 2025, received royal assent on November 20, 2025, and came into effect on December 15, 2025. IRCC now recognizes new eligible citizens under the amended rules and applies the new rules for passing citizenship on going forward.
The change does not affect anyone who already became a Canadian citizen before Bill C-3 became law. If you were already a citizen before the bill, you are still a citizen. The change also extends access to remaining Lost Canadians — people who lost or never obtained citizenship because of outdated rules in earlier citizenship laws — their descendants, and people born abroad to, or adopted abroad by, a Canadian parent in the second or later generation before the new law came into effect. Most cases in those groups were resolved by legislative changes in 2009 and 2015, which restored or gave citizenship to about 20,000 people; Bill C-3 addresses the remainder.
Counting generations
IRCC counts generations for this rule as follows. A Canadian citizen is someone born in Canada, a citizen by birth, or someone who applied for and was granted citizenship, a citizen through naturalization. The first generation is the first person born or adopted outside Canada to a Canadian citizen. That person is Canadian by descent. The second generation or later is a person also born outside Canada to a first-generation person. Bill C-3 concerns that second generation and later. The same counting applies to people who are adopted and apply for a direct grant of citizenship.
Work out, on paper, where you sit in that chain before you read anything else. If your parent was born in Canada or naturalized in Canada, you were already in the first generation and Bill C-3 is not what decides your status. If your parent was born or adopted outside Canada to a Canadian citizen, you are in the second generation or later, and the date branches below decide your case.
Branch one: born or adopted before December 15, 2025
Citizenship may have been restored or given to people born outside Canada in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025. In most cases, you are automatically a Canadian citizen if you were born before December 15, 2025, outside Canada, to a Canadian parent. This rule also applies if you were born to someone who became Canadian because of these rule changes: the chain runs through the newly recognized citizen as well as through a citizen of longer standing.
Adopted people are likely eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship through a direct grant for adopted people if they were born and adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025. The direct-grant route is separate from the birth-descent route, and adoption cases should start from the direct-grant pages.
If this change made you a Canadian citizen automatically but you do not want to be one, you can apply to give up, renounce, your Canadian citizenship. People in this position who were not previously granted citizenship can apply through a simplified renunciation process. Read the renunciation pages and get advice before you apply for proof, as explained in the final FAQ.
Branch two: born or adopted on or after December 15, 2025
People born outside Canada in the second generation or later may be Canadian if their parent was also born or adopted outside Canada to a Canadian citizen — meaning the grandparent was Canadian — and that same parent spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the birth. Adopted people are likely eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship through a direct grant for adopted people if they were born and adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later, and their Canadian parent spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the adoption.
To demonstrate a substantial connection to Canada, the applicant must show that their Canadian parent born or adopted abroad has at least 1,095 days, three years, of cumulative physical presence in Canada before the applicant's birth or adoption. Cumulative is the operative word: the days do not have to be consecutive, and they are counted before the birth or adoption, not after it. The parent's presence is what is measured, not the applicant's. This guide states no list of documents that prove those days and no rule for which days count, because no such list or rule could be verified on an official page. Do not build a day count from a secondary checklist. Gather the parent's records of time in Canada and follow the CIT 0001 document guide, and ask IRCC or a licensed immigration consultant if the count is close to the line.
If you applied under the interim measure
In response to the December 2023 court decision, the government announced an interim measure to support those affected. If your application under that measure is still in progress, IRCC will process it using the new rules, and you do not need to submit a new citizenship certificate application. If you are unsure whether an application of yours is still in progress, check its status through IRCC's channels rather than filing a second application for the same claim.
How to prove your citizenship: the certificate application
If you think you became a citizen because of Bill C-3, you must apply for a citizenship certificate to find out for sure. You may also want a certificate as proof of your citizenship if you became a citizen automatically. When you apply, IRCC reviews the application to check whether you are a Canadian citizen. If you are, IRCC issues a citizenship certificate, proof of Canadian citizenship. That proof helps you apply for a Canadian passport and avoid delays at the border if you plan to enter Canada. A citizenship certificate is not a travel document: if you are travelling abroad, you must have a valid passport or travel document.
Apply on form CIT 0001, Application for a Citizenship Certificate for Adults and Minors, under section 3. There are separate guides for paper and online applications, and the guide for your route controls. Paper applications go by mail or to a Canadian embassy, high commission, or consular office. Online applications are completed through a guided questionnaire, and the fee is paid by credit card, Debit Mastercard, or Visa Debit as part of the submission. If you choose a paper citizenship certificate, be aware that IRCC does not mail paper certificates to mailing addresses outside Canada and the United States.
Your application cannot be supported solely by third-party records. You must include proof of parentage and Canadian citizenship for your Canadian parent, grandparent, and parental ancestor as applicable. For each person, provide one or more documents issued by the original authority, such as a provincial or territorial birth certificate. If you do not have a birth certificate or birth record for yourself or any parental ancestor, send other documents issued by the original authority that show parentage and Canadian citizenship, such as a hospital record of birth, a record from a physician or midwife who witnessed the birth, a baptismal certificate or record including copies or certified records, census records, or a boat manifest. The guides also require identity documents and photographs as specified, and a paper application must include the fee payment receipt. The fee for a citizenship certificate is $75 per person. If more than one member of your family is applying, pay the fees all together.
An incomplete application is rejected with a notification of the missing information or documentation, so completeness comes before speed. At a minimum, an application must contain the required form, photographs, signatures, and fee payment before it can be accepted into processing.
Before you travel or rely on the status
Do not book non-refundable travel, resign a job, or make a move that depends on Canadian citizenship until IRCC has confirmed the status. The Government of Canada's rules page carries a before-travelling section for a reason: a person who believes they are a citizen but holds no certificate and no Canadian passport can face delays at the border. Apply for the certificate first, and carry the certificate when you apply for a passport. If travel is urgent, the urgent-processing route exists, as described in the FAQ, but even a qualifying urgent request carries no guarantee of timing.
Figures this guide does not state
This guide states no processing-time figure for citizenship certificates, because processing times vary by route and by where the application is sent; check IRCC's current processing-times information. It states no list of evidence for counting the 1,095 days and no Crown-servant or other exception to the substantial-connection test, because neither could be verified on an official page. It states no backlog or certificate-review claim: secondary reporting described an IRCC review of some certificates issued in mid-2026, but no IRCC or Government of Canada page confirming such a review could be found, so no such caveat appears in this guide. Recheck this guide on any IRCC or Bill C-3 update.
Related guides
- How to Start Applying for Canadian Citizenship in Canada — the grant of citizenship for permanent residents: the 1,095-day physical-presence count, the document package, and the fee on the IRCC fee list. Use this route only if the descent check in this guide does not cover you.
- How to Start Tracking Your Residency Days and Proving Your Language Level for Canadian Citizenship — the day count in detail, including the half-day pre-permanent-residence rule, the 365-day cap, and the full catalogue of accepted language proof, for grant applicants.
- How to Start Getting Ready for Your Citizenship Exam in Canada — the knowledge test for grant applicants 18 to 54: 20 questions from Discover Canada, the invitation window, and the three chances to pass.
- How to Sponsor Your Spouse to Come to Canada — family sponsorship for a spouse or partner, a different route from citizenship by descent, with its own inland and outland streams and checklists.
Checking whether Bill C-3 already made you a citizen, in five moves
- Place your birth or adoption date against December 15, 2025That date divides the two branches. People born or adopted before it are assessed under the restoration branch. People born or adopted on or after it are assessed under the substantial-connection branch.
- Count the generationsThe first generation is the first person born or adopted outside Canada to a Canadian citizen. Bill C-3 concerns the second generation or later: a person born outside Canada to a parent who was also born or adopted outside Canada.
- Apply the 1,095-day test if the later branch fitsFor births or adoptions on or after December 15, 2025, the Canadian parent born or adopted abroad must have spent at least 1,095 cumulative days in Canada before the birth or adoption.
- Gather the chain of documentsProof of parentage and Canadian citizenship for yourself and each parental ancestor, from the original issuing authority, plus identity documents and photographs as the CIT 0001 guide specifies.
- Apply for a citizenship certificateIRCC reviews the application to check whether you are a Canadian citizen. If you are, it issues a citizenship certificate as proof. The certificate is not a travel document.
Questions people ask
I was born abroad before December 15, 2025, to a Canadian parent who was also born abroad. Am I already a citizen?
In most cases, yes, according to the Government of Canada's own explanation of the change. Citizenship may have been restored or given to people born outside Canada in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025, and in most cases you are automatically a Canadian citizen if you were born before that date, outside Canada, to a Canadian parent. The same rule applies if you were born to someone who became Canadian because of these rule changes. Automatic does not mean documented: you still have to apply for a citizenship certificate for IRCC to review your application and confirm it, and the certificate is the proof you use to apply for a passport and avoid delays at the border. Do not assume the answer from a family story alone. Work through the chain of documents in this guide, and if the chain has a gap, the [CIT 0001 guide](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/cit0001.html) lists the substitute documents IRCC accepts.
What is the 1,095-day substantial-connection test, and whose days count?
It is the test for the later branch only: people born or adopted abroad on or after December 15, 2025, to a Canadian parent who was also born or adopted abroad. The days that count are the Canadian parent's days, not yours. That parent must have spent at least 1,095 days, three years, of cumulative physical presence in Canada before your birth or adoption. Cumulative matters: the days do not have to be consecutive. The test is assessed when the application for proof of citizenship, or for Canadian citizenship for an adopted child, is made. If you were born or adopted before December 15, 2025, this test does not decide your case; the restoration branch does. This guide states no list of accepted evidence for counting those days, because no such list could be verified on an official page. Gather the records of the parent's time in Canada and follow the document guide, rather than relying on a secondary checklist.
I was adopted abroad by a Canadian parent who was born abroad. Does Bill C-3 cover me?
It may, through a different route from birth descent. Adopted people born and adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later are likely eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship through a direct grant for adopted people, in both date branches. For adoptions on or after December 15, 2025, the Canadian parent must have spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the adoption. For adoptions before that date, the direct-grant route is the one the Government of Canada's explanation points to. The word likely is the government's, not a hedge added here: adoption cases turn on the adoption's legal recognition and the documents for each person in the chain, so start from the direct-grant application pages rather than from the birth-descent pages, and get advice from a licensed immigration consultant or an immigration lawyer if the adoption involved more than one country or a change of name.
What documents do I need to apply for proof of citizenship?
You apply on [form CIT 0001, Application for a Citizenship Certificate for Adults and Minors](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/cit0001.html), under section 3, online or on paper. Your application cannot be supported solely by third-party records. You must include proof of parentage and Canadian citizenship for your Canadian parent, grandparent, and parental ancestor as applicable, with one or more documents for each person issued by the original authority, such as a provincial or territorial birth certificate. If a birth certificate or birth record is missing for yourself or any parental ancestor, send other documents issued by the original authority that show parentage and Canadian citizenship, such as a hospital record of birth, a record from a physician or midwife who witnessed the birth, a baptismal certificate or record, census records, or a boat manifest. The application also requires identity documents and photographs as the guide specifies, and the fee payment receipt must be included with a paper application. An incomplete application is rejected, so work through the guide for your route, online or paper, line by line.
How much does a citizenship certificate cost, and can I get one urgently?
The fee for a citizenship certificate, proof of citizenship, is $75 per person on IRCC's official fee list. Pay online for an online application, using a credit card, Debit Mastercard, or Visa Debit; for a paper application, include the fee payment receipt with the application. Urgent processing exists in some cases. You can apply urgently for reasons such as avoiding harm or hardship, meeting a date to give up a foreign citizenship, or for employment or education, and your request must include an explanation letter and supporting documents, such as a plane ticket or itinerary with proof of payment, a letter from an employer or a school, a doctor's note, or a death certificate. IRCC reviews the request to see if it qualifies, and even if it qualifies, IRCC cannot guarantee you will get the certificate on time. Dual Canadian citizens who are also citizens of a visa-exempt country can apply urgently if they have proof of air travel to Canada within six months of the application date. This guide states no processing-time figure: check IRCC's processing-times information for the current figure.
I think Bill C-3 made me a citizen, but I do not want to be one. What happens?
The change does not force citizenship on anyone who already held it before Bill C-3 became law: if you were already a citizen before the bill, you are still a citizen. For people born before December 15, 2025, who automatically became Canadian citizens under the new law, were not previously granted citizenship, and now want to give it up, the Government of Canada's backgrounder says a simplified renunciation process is available. Do not ignore the question and hope it goes away: automatic citizenship can carry obligations in another country, such as tax or military-service consequences, that this guide cannot assess. If you do not want the citizenship, start from [IRCC's renunciation pages](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/cit0302.html) and get advice from a licensed immigration consultant or an immigration lawyer before you apply for proof of citizenship, because applying for the certificate is how IRCC confirms a status you may prefer not to hold.
Sources
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Change to citizenship rules in 2025 (rules-2025 page) — the December 15, 2025 effective date, the generation counting, both date branches, the 1,095-day test, the proof-by-certificate rule, the interim-measure position, and the renunciation option.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Bill C-3 — An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) comes into effect (backgrounder): the June 5, 2025 introduction, royal assent on November 20, 2025, coming into effect on December 15, 2025, the substantial-connection definition, the Lost Canadians extension, and the simplified renunciation position.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, New citizenship rules for Canadians born or adopted abroad are now in effect (news release, December 15, 2025) — the in-effect date, the pre-date proof route, and the three-years-in-Canada condition going forward.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Guide for Paper Applications for a Citizenship Certificate for Adults and Minors (Proof of Citizenship) under Section 3 (CIT 0001) — the chain-of-documents rule, substitute documents where a birth record is missing, and the $75 fee with receipt.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Guide for Online Applications for a Citizenship Certificate for Adults and Minors (Proof of Citizenship) under Section 3 (CIT 0001) — the online questionnaire, the payment method, the paper-certificate mailing limit, and the same chain-of-documents rule.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Application for a Citizenship Certificate (CIT 0001) — the form page for a citizenship certificate under section 3. Supports the CIT 0001 form and its paper and online routes.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Citizenship for your adopted child: How to apply — the direct-grant route for adopted people. Supports the two-part application package (Part 1: confirmation of the adoptive parent's Canadian citizenship; Part 2: the application for the adopted person) and the mailing address.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Application to Renounce Canadian Citizenship (CIT 0302) — the renunciation form. Supports the application to give up Canadian citizenship, including the requirement to return any citizenship certificate in your possession.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Citizenship and immigration application fees (fee list) — the $75 citizenship certificate fee, the $653 adult grant fee, and the $123 right of citizenship fee.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Apply for a Canadian citizenship certificate — About the process: the certificate as proof, the certificate as not a travel document, and the $75 fee.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, When and how do I apply urgently for a citizenship certificate? (Help Centre) — urgent-processing reasons, the explanation letter and supporting documents, the no-guarantee rule, and the dual-citizen urgent route.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Intake of Canadian Citizenship Certificate Applications (Proof of Citizenship) (operational bulletin) — the completeness check, the CIT 0001 form, photographs, signatures, and fee payment as the minimum for acceptance into processing.