We started reviewing your claim to Canadian citizenship by descent and never got to finish it. Your file is still with us. Bill C-3 is in force, the first-generation limit is gone, and your eligibility has not gone anywhere — tell us where things stand and we’ll pick it back up.
We tried to reach you about your Canadian citizenship by descent claim and couldn’t get through. Your file is still with us and Bill C-3 is now in force. Tell us where things stand and how you’d prefer to be contacted.
You received a retainer agreement from us and never sent it back. Nothing was lost — your file and your descent chain notes are still with us, and citizenship by descent has no application deadline. Tell us where things stand today.
No cost • No obligation • Confidential • Reviewed by a licensed Canadian immigration lawyer
One short form. If you’d rather we close your file, you can tell us that here too.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU REPLY
You already told us about your Canadian parent or grandparent once. This is not a fresh start — it’s a continuation. You will not be asked to re-explain your family tree.
Fill in the short form above. No birth certificates, no archive records, no family tree to rebuild — just confirm you still want to pursue the claim and tell us the best way and time to reach you.
A member of our citizenship team looks at the ancestry line we already discussed and re-checks it against the Bill C-3 rules now in force. If anything has changed — a document you’ve since located, a birth in the family — that is the only new information we need.
Whether you already are a Canadian citizen and simply need a Proof of Citizenship certificate, exactly which documents your chain is missing, and how to obtain them. If your chain doesn’t hold up, we will tell you that plainly.
Canada’s “first-generation limit” used to cut citizenship by descent off after a single generation born outside Canada. Grandchildren of Canadians were routinely excluded. With Bill C-3, that restriction has been removed for many people — expanding eligibility to those with a Canadian parent or grandparent.
If your grandparent, great-grandparent, or a more distant ancestor was Canadian, and you can prove an unbroken chain of descent, you may already be a Canadian citizen — and have been since birth. What you would be applying for is a Proof of Citizenship certificate that formally confirms status you already hold. The government fee is $75, and processing currently runs 11 to 15 months.
The substantial connection rule — three years of Canadian residence for the Canadian parent — applies only to children born or adopted abroad on or after December 15, 2025. For everyone born before that date, it does not apply.
One practical reason not to leave this sitting: the archives are being overwhelmed. The BAnQ in Montreal went from 32 archive requests in January 2025 to over 1,000 in January 2026, mostly from Americans. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and BC have all reported similar surges. Document retrieval is the slow part, and the queue is getting longer.
With over 23 years of experience, Canadim is one of Canada’s leading immigration law firms and a member of the Barreau du Québec. Our citizenship team works on descent claims daily — including the difficult ones, where the paper trail runs through pre-1947 records, rural Quebec parish registers, or a U.S. naturalisation file.
We already have your family line on file. That means no starting over, no re-explaining who was born where, and no repeating a conversation you’ve already had. We pick up where we left off.
"Canadim is a great law firm consisting of an organized, helpful and professional team. They take their time to check all details of your case with you and will give you the best options to achieve your objectives. You will have constant communications with them, while reviewing your documents, which helps creating a flawless application. I would recommend this firm to anyone, without a doubt."
"First of all, I want to thank Canadim for all the help you have done to me. All their staff are very accommodating and approachable. They are patient and always answer all my questions and guided me step by step whenever I have problems or don't know what to do. They are always there to help throughout the processing. I'm so grateful and thankful! I highly recommend Canadim."
BEFORE YOU DECIDE
Because your file is still open and we never got a clear yes or no from you. Rather than keep guessing, we’d rather ask directly: do you still want to pursue your Canadian citizenship claim? If the answer is no, telling us that on the form takes five seconds and we’ll close the file.
Yes. Nothing was cancelled and nothing expired. An unsigned agreement simply means the work never started — your assessment and descent chain notes are still on file. If cost, timing, or a specific term was the reason you held back, say so on the form and we’ll address it directly rather than resending the same document.
Yes. Bill C-3 expanded eligibility to include certain second-generation individuals born abroad. The requirement is a biological or legal adoptive parent-child link at every step of the chain, documented from your Canadian ancestor down to you. Claims through a step-parent do not qualify.
No. That is a large part of what we do. You will need long-form birth certificates for everyone in the chain — the wallet-sized short form is not sufficient because it doesn’t list both parents. Where civil registration is incomplete, we work with church parish registers, Canadian census records from 1871 through 1931, and U.S. naturalisation files obtained through FOIA. We advise you on exactly what to request and where.
Processing for a Proof of Citizenship application currently runs 11 to 15 months depending on complexity, and there is no age limit or application deadline. The real bottleneck is document retrieval from provincial archives, which is where the current surge in requests is causing delays.
Yes. Canada allows dual citizenship, and the United States does not require you to renounce U.S. citizenship when acquiring another nationality. Canadian citizenship on its own does not create Canadian tax liability if you do not reside in Canada — tax obligations follow residency, not citizenship.
Then tell us. There is an option on the form to let us know you’re no longer interested, and we’ll close your file and stop contacting you about it. We’d much rather have a clear no than leave your file sitting open indefinitely.
Your file is open, your family line is already on record, and the assessment costs you nothing. All we need to know is whether claiming your Canadian citizenship still matters to you.
Same business day response. Confidential. Reviewed by a licensed Canadian immigration lawyer.
Prefer to just talk it through? Call us at +1 844 774 0700.