As new legislations start to take place, many children of Canadian citizens may not be able to obtain their citizenships. This is conditional to the newly amendments to Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act. This federal bill states that restrictions may fall upon those of beyond the first generation of descent.
Children of those who are born or adopted before the following legislation are exempt from these restrictions, and will qualify for Canadian citizenship if the bill becomes law in its current form.
Further, the amendments present new restrictions with no similarity to the earlier version of the bill:
- Security assessment: Even if their parent meets the substantial connection to Canada test, a child aged 18 years or older when applying for proof of citizenship must undergo an assessment for concerns related to national security, human rights violations, criminality, and economic sanctions.
- Knowledge of language and culture: Children aged 18 – 55 when they apply for proof of citizenship must also demonstrate adequate knowledge of English or French, and adequate knowledge of Canada and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
Under this most recent amendments, children born abroad to, or adopted by, Canadian citizens by descent would gain citizenship at birth or adoption only if their Canadian parent had spent at least three years within Canada during any five-year period prior to the child’s birth or adoption.
Under the earlier version of the bill, the three years of physical presence in Canada spent by the Canadian parent, referred to as the “substantial connection to Canada test,” did not have to fall within a five-year period, making it less challenging.
