Eligibility

An application is a set of records that lets an IRCC officer trace your family line back to Canada. Tell us about your Canadian connection and see which records an application would involve.

Your closest Canadian connection

You were born or adopted

THE FRAMEWORK THAT LIKELY APPLIES

Born before December 15, 2025, you may already be a citizen by operation of law. The application is for proof: a Citizenship Certificate.

1,095-DAY PRESENCE TEST

DOES NOT APPLY

If any record in your line comes from Quebec, note that IRCC does not accept Quebec birth or marriage certificates issued before 1 January 1994. Those have to be reissued by the Directeur de l’état civil before they can support an application.

This tool gives a preliminary, educational indication based only on what you select. It is not a determination of citizenship and does not replace a case-specific review.

Your documentary chain

PARENT BORN ABROAD · BORN BEFORE DEC 15, 2025

01
Your grandparent, the Canadian source
- Proof of Canadian status, birth in Canada, naturalization, or citizenship certificate
- Marriage or name-change records for this generation
02
Your parent, born abroad
- Long-form birth certificate naming your grandparent
- Their Canadian citizenship certificate or registration of birth abroad, if one exists
03
You
- Your long-form birth certificate
- Two pieces of identification, both showing your name and date of birth, one with your photo. A birth certificate is not one of them.

Review this list with us, free

What usually goes wrong is the paperwork, not the law.

Guessing which rule applies to you

We work it out from your dates before anything is filed

Finding a missing record after you file

We look for the gaps while there is still time to fill them

A file the officer has to interpret

A file the officer can simply read

A general checklist off a website

A list built from your own family

IRCC only accepts official copies.

Genealogy sites are where most people start, and they are good for names, dates and places. They are not evidence. Every certificate in the application has to be an official copy from the office that registered the event, and assembling that set is most of the work in a descent claim.

The certificates

Every birth, marriage and death in your line needs its own certified copy from the office that registered it. A grandparent claim usually means several separate requests, often to offices in more than one country.

The translations

Anything not in English or French needs a translation and a sworn statement from the translator. It cannot be you, and it cannot be anyone in your family.

The photographs

Two prints at 50 by 70 millimetres, with the photographer's details and the date on the back. IRCC's citizenship photographs are not passport photographs, and the wrong ones bring the whole application back.

Working out which records a family needs, and which office holds each one, is what we do before anything is filed. Tell us about your family and the first review costs nothing.