Answer a few questions to explore your possible claim to Canadian citizenship and get a personalised checklist of the records you need. The tool reflects the 2025 changes to citizenship by descent following the passage of Bill C-3.
Choose the starting point that sounds like you. You don’t need all the records to begin.
Your answers stay in this tab unless you request a consultation. You can answer on behalf of a child or another family member; use their relationships and birth details throughout.
This is a screening tool, not a legal assessment or proof of Canadian citizenship. Results depend on the facts you enter. A lawyer can assess the applicable law; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the Government of Canada’s department for citizenship, determines citizenship when reviewing an application for proof.
This example includes a grandmother born in Canada in 1960, a parent born abroad in 1985 and a child born abroad in 2007. With qualifying parentage and no citizenship by descent exceptions, this line may support a claim. Each connection still needs evidence.
A cousin’s Canadian citizenship by descent claim used a grandmother on their side of their family, that you do not share. That particular ancestor does not create a descent route for you. The useful next step is to explore your own parents’ family lines.
A grandparent became Canadian, but the family does not know when. If this was ordinary naturalization, whether the grant took effect before the next generation’s birth matters. The checklist identifies the record that could resolve the question.
A direct family line means a clear lineage (from Canadian parent to child through every generation) from your Canadian ancestor, to you.
Start with your closest Canadian ancestor and work toward the person whose claim to Canadian citizenship you are exploring.
For a successful citizenship by descent claim, both the Canadian ancestor’s citizenship status and the link between each generation must be documented. This is typically done through official supporting documentation such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates.
A grandparent’s route therefore passes through your parent before reaching you. A great-grandparent’s route includes another generation. The number of generations tells us how many connections to examine; it does not, on its own, answer the question of Canadian citizenship by descent.
An aunt, uncle or cousin can help you discover a Canadian ancestor, but being related to them is not itself a transmission of citizenship. You need to locate the ancestor you share and then follow your own branch. This is particularly important for half-siblings and cousins, whose families include branches that you do not share.
Your Canadian citizenship by descent claim usually stems from the ancestor who was the closest provable Canadian citizen to you, in a direct line of lineage.
There are several different ways your ancestor could be a Canadian citizen: a birth in Canada, a citizenship grant, dual citizenship, and Canadian citizenship through ancestry are different starting points.
Family knowledge is useful, even when records are missing, but a story that someone lived or worked in Canada does not, by itself, establish Canadian citizenship. You can choose “I don’t know” and keep exploring. Your result will identify what needs to be established.
The tool asks about births and, where relevant, the effective date of naturalization. A citizenship certificate issued recently may recognise status that already existed. That certificate’s issue date should not be entered as the date someone first became Canadian through naturalization. Historical loss, restoration and the law’s deeming provisions can also affect dates, so complex histories receive a separate review outcome.
For every generation, identify the biological or legal parent at birth. An adoption after birth raises a different citizenship analysis; a step-parent relationship alone does not establish descent. The explorer keeps those situations visible instead of silently treating all family relationships alike. If a later person has an independent Canadian citizenship basis, the result may identify that nearer starting point.
The changes took effect on 15 December 2025. For relevant births abroad on or after that date, a Canadian parent’s citizenship basis and physical presence may matter. Where the connection test applies, the relevant parent needs at least 1,095 days in Canada before the child’s birth. The two parents’ days cannot simply be added together. The other parent’s status and specified Crown-service exceptions may also affect the analysis.
The tool asks connection questions for the relevant birth, rather than assuming one answer covers a whole family. Time spent in Canada after a child’s birth cannot be counted as time before that birth. A birth in 2025 without a known month and day may remain conditional when the cutoff changes the outcome.
Pick the closest ancestor in your direct family line to you who was a provable Canadian citizen. This is known as your “anchor ancestor.” Use our free tool if you are not sure who this ancestor may be in your family line or if you are unsure what documents are needed to prove Canadian citizenship.
No. Answer with the facts you know and mark uncertain facts as unknown. The explorer separates citizenship facts from the documents you have in hand. Missing a certificate does not automatically mean that a person was not Canadian.
Your personalized checklist will help organize the birth, Canadian citizenship and parentage records that could establish your line.
Their result can be a valuable clue, but your connection still needs to be traced.
Confirm which Canadian ancestor supported their claim, whether that person is also your ancestor, and how they are connected to you. If (for example) the ancestor is your grandparent or great-grandparent, they remain a person within your direct family line, and a citizenship by descent claim can likely be made through them.
Death is not treated as an automatic break in citizenship by descent cases. With the passage of Bill C-3, and the repealing of the first generation limit to assist so-called Lost Canadians, the Citizenship Act now includes provisions relating to deceased parents and earlier generations. Where a claim depends on those historical provisions, the explorer tool identifies a need for review.
Even if your ancestor is deceased you can still record what you know about the ancestor’s birth and how they were a Canadian citizen; this tool does not ask for a date of death.
A preliminary result uses the essential facts you have provided.
It does not treat unasked questions as passed. The result lists missing facts and gives you a checklist immediately; the “Check the remaining facts” option lets you refine it. A positive screening result does not confirm Canadian citizenship.
A conditional result means a fact that could affect this line remains unresolved.
The result names the question and explains what different answers could mean. It also lists additional gaps, that need to be addressed or potentially corrected if a mistake in input was made. You can edit any person and run the checks again when new information becomes available.
In many cases, yes— however though siblings and children may share useful records, each person needs their own screening to determine whether they have a Canadian citizenship by descent claim or not.
Siblings may have different parentage or birth circumstances. Children add a new parent–child link, and the rules applicable to their births may differ. You can use the “Check a child” option after your result to extend the line and assess that child’s circumstances separately.
While you use the explorer, your answers stay in this browser tab and aren’t sent anywhere. Reloading the page clears them, so download your checklist if you want to keep it. If you request a consultation, we send your contact details, your family-line answers and your result to Cohen Immigration Law so the team can review your situation and contact you. CanadaVisa’s usual website analytics and privacy policy also apply.
No, the checklist generated by our tool is only a personalized research checklist that helps you identify supporting documentation needed to prove your family line and support your citizenship by descent claim.
The tool records the family line you entered, the screening outcome and the facts or documents to gather. It does not replace IRCC’s current forms and document instructions, nor expedite processing times. A complete application may require identification, translations or other evidence beyond the records listed here.
The tool cannot authenticate documents, resolve disputed parentage, screen for the separate application process needed to receive a Canadian passport, or determine every historical citizenship entitlement.
Adoption grants, renunciation, revocation, diplomatic circumstances and specified exceptions can require detailed legal review. A review outcome leaves that question open; it does not mean that a claim is impossible. Likewise, a positive screening result identifies a potential pathway without confirming citizenship.
When a line does not support the claim, the result is limited to that line. Your other parent’s ancestry or a nearer Canadian relative may supply a different starting point. The explorer offers a way to begin again with those facts.
Citizenship Act, section 3: citizenship, historical provisions, the connection test and exceptions.
Section 5.1: citizenship grants relating to adoption. Section 12: evidence of citizenship.
