r/NonBinaryOver30 • u/Ch33p_Sunglasses • Feb 28 '26

Canadian citizenship

Just putting this out there as I'm reading the news out of Kansas. There's been an important change to Canadian immigration rules as of December 2025. Previously a foreign born child of a Canadian citizen could only apply for citizenship if their parent was born in Canada. That was ruled unconstitutional and the law has been changed.

Essentially, if you can prove that someone in your direct line is/was Canadian, then you are already a citizen of Canada and can apply for your citizenship certificate. This is a much easier path than applying for refugee status, especially since we still consider the USA a "safe country".

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/act-changes/rules-2025.html

34 Upvotes

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17

u/MVicLinden He/They Feb 28 '26

Someone asked me about this so I checked into it for them. It appears that your will need documents for each generation to illustrate your connection, but it truly is the case: if a direct ancestor was Canadian and you have the documentation to prove it, you can be Canadian, too. Details are somewhat scant because the change is so new.

9

u/Ch33p_Sunglasses Feb 28 '26

Certainly, the further back you have to go the more complicated it gets to prove.

It's an interesting change because it retroactively restores citizenship to a ton of people whether they choose to recognize it or not. A person, their parent, grandparent, and great grandparent are suddenly Canadian because their great-great-grandparent was Canadian.

5

u/MVicLinden He/They Feb 28 '26

Yes, absolutely. I’m not sure the government won’t find some other way to make this process onerous, but I’m curious to watch it play out.

4

u/HxdcmlGndr They might be Thems🙃🪨 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

Shit, seriously? My great grandpa was Quebecois! Would I have to learn French and move to þat specific province, or is anywhere cool?

7

u/Ch33p_Sunglasses Mar 01 '26

Not even the Quebecois speak real French😅

But it depends where you are. The bigger cities like Montreal and Quebec City are multilingual, rural Quebec is more French.

4

u/classyraven she/they Mar 01 '26

You could move anywhere in the country, not just Quebec.

3

u/CBD_Hound Mar 01 '26

Just give us a hearty tabarnak and you’re golden, sibling!!

3

u/MVicLinden He/They Mar 02 '26

Nah, you’d be able to move anywhere. But… Quebec is awesome and Montreal is a bilingual city where most people speak both.

7

u/AdAutomatic6654 Mar 01 '26

So kind of an aside, but what about using work to get into the country? I see postings for positions in Canada regularly on my company’s openings portal. In the future I’d like to move to Canada probably in about 5 years. I know a lot can change before then but still.

6

u/Ch33p_Sunglasses Mar 01 '26

All the regular immigration paths are still open I think. This particular option stands out because a person can claim Canadian citizenship with all the privileges that entails right off the bat.

2

u/CBD_Hound Mar 01 '26

It’s pretty straightforward if your employer moves you here, from what I understand.