Canadian citizenship by descent has no generational limit for anyone born before December 15, 2025. That means a great-great-grandparent born in Nova Scotia in 1876, Quebec in 1868, or Ontario in 1882 can still anchor your claim today, as long as citizenship passed unbroken from them to you.
The question people ask most: which box to check on CIT 0001 page 1 when the Canadian in your family is four generations back?
Which Box to Check on CIT 0001 When Your Ancestor Is a Great-Great-Grandparent
On CIT 0001, page 1 asks how you acquired Canadian citizenship. The options are:
- Born in Canada
- Naturalized (took an oath of citizenship)
- Registered as a citizen
- Born outside Canada to a Canadian parent
Check "Born outside Canada to a Canadian parent" regardless of whether your Canadian ancestor is your parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, or great-great-grandparent. The word "parent" on this form means any person in your direct line of descent through whom citizenship flows. The later sections of the form, including Section 9 with addendum pages, are where you identify who that ancestor is and document the chain.
Bill C-3 Removed the Generational Limit
Before December 15, 2025, Canadian law cut off citizenship by descent at the first generation born outside Canada. If your parent was born in the US and you were born in the US, the chain stopped with your parent. This was the "first-generation limit."
Bill C-3, which took effect December 15, 2025, abolished that limit entirely for anyone born before that date. The chain can now go back as many generations as the documentation supports. Great-great-grandparent, great-great-great-grandparent, further: if the chain is unbroken and documented, it counts.
The only new generational rule introduced by Bill C-3 applies to people born on or after December 15, 2025. For those individuals, a Canadian parent must have accumulated 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada before the child's birth. That rule has no effect on anyone already born.
What "Unbroken Chain" Means Across Five Generations
Citizenship does not simply flow forward from a Canadian ancestor indefinitely. Each link must hold. The question IRCC asks at each generation: was this person a Canadian citizen at the time their child was born?
If your great-great-grandfather was Canadian but naturalized as an American in 1903, and your great-grandfather was born in 1905, the chain breaks at 1903. The great-great-grandfather's Canadian status ended before the great-grandfather arrived. Map this timeline before ordering a single document.
The Five-Document Minimum
A great-great-grandparent claim means proving a chain across five people. The minimum document set:
- Your birth certificate (US long-form, government-issued, not a hospital record)
- Your parent's birth certificate
- Your grandparent's birth certificate
- Your great-grandparent's birth certificate
- Your great-great-grandparent's Canadian birth record or proof of Canadian birth
Plus a marriage certificate for every name change across the chain. A surname that shifts between generations without explanation is one of the top reasons IRCC returns multi-generational applications.
When 1870s and 1880s Records Don't Exist
Your great-great-grandparent may have been born before provincial vital statistics registration. Ontario began civil registration in July 1869 but covered only about one-third of births in 1870. Quebec did not centralize birth registration until 1994. Many provinces had similar gaps.
IRCC accepts alternative evidence under a "balance of probabilities" standard:
- Quebec parish baptismal records: Available through Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), these are widely accepted by IRCC. See the Quebec baptismal records guide for how to order.
- Historical birth registers at provincial archives: For Ontario ancestors born between 1869 and 1920, the Archives of Ontario holds the original ledgers, searchable by surname. The Ontario birth records guide explains the process.
- Census records combined with other evidence: The 1881 and 1891 Canadian census records list each person's province of birth. A census entry alongside a church record and immigration document can meet the balance of probabilities standard, though census records alone are generally not sufficient.
Using the Section 9 Addendum
The CIT 0001 form's printed ancestry fields are designed for grandparent and great-grandparent chains. For a great-great-grandparent claim, IRCC instructs applicants to attach addendum pages directly after Section 9.
The addendum is not a separate downloadable form. It is a page you create that mirrors the Section 9 fields: full legal name at birth, date and place of birth, relationship to you. Write one row per additional generation. Label it clearly as a continuation of Section 9 and place it immediately after that section in your application package. IRCC officers reviewing the file expect the chain to be contiguous.
One Complication: Women in the Chain Before 1977
If a woman appears in your chain and she married a non-Canadian man before 1977, she may have automatically lost Canadian citizenship at that point under the rules in force at the time. How this interacts with a multi-generational claim is fact-specific. The full detail, including what Bill C-3 restored, is in the Canadian citizenship through a grandmother guide.
If your chain runs through male ancestors only, this issue does not apply.
A Five-Generation Chain in Practice
Thomas Burke was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1876. He moved to Boston in 1901 and worked the docks, never applying for US citizenship. His son William was born in Roxbury in 1905. William's son James was born in Worcester in 1932. James's son Robert was born in Springfield in 1961. Robert's daughter Lauren was born in Hartford in 1985.
Thomas became a Canadian citizen on January 1, 1947, when the Canadian Citizenship Act came into force. William, born to Thomas in 1905, held Canadian citizenship by descent. James, born to William in 1932, was Canadian. Robert, born to James in 1961, was Canadian. Lauren, born to Robert in 1985, is Canadian by descent.
Under the old first-generation limit, Lauren's claim would have been blocked: three intermediate generations had all been born outside Canada. Bill C-3 removed that block. She qualifies.
Lauren's documents: Nova Scotia birth record for Thomas (older records held at Nova Scotia Archives or Nova Scotia Vital Statistics), Massachusetts birth certificates for William and James, Massachusetts birth certificate for Robert, Connecticut birth certificate for Lauren. Marriage certificates bridge any surname changes along the way.
On CIT 0001 page 1, Lauren checks "Born outside Canada to a Canadian parent." In Section 9, she documents the chain, attaching addendum pages for the generations beyond what the printed form accommodates.
The application fee is $75 CAD. Current processing time is approximately 11 months. MaplePass runs an eligibility check in two minutes and generates your complete document list based on your specific chain. Start at getmaplepass.com.