Canadian Citizenship By Descent, Second Generation: Substantial Connection Test (The 1,095 Day Rule)

‍Canadian citizenship by descent in the second generation and beyond can go quite far back, but for a child born abroad on or after December 15, 2025, each generation has to earn transmission on its own, and it comes down to one number: 1,095 days of physical presence in Canada.

This guide covers who the substantial connection test applies to, how the days are counted and proven, and what to do if you are short.

What The Substantial Connection Test Actually Says

For a child born or adopted outside Canada on or after December 15, 2025, a parent who is themselves a Canadian citizen by descent transmits citizenship only if that parent was physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days before the birth or the adoption.

Two points are worth clarifying here.

First, this is not a rule about "the Canadian parent." The Citizenship Act is drafted in the negative: the child is not a citizen if neither of the person's parents who was a citizen was physically present for at least 1,095 days before the birth. When both parents are citizens, either one meeting the threshold is enough.

Second, "substantial connection" is the policy label IRCC and Parliament use. It does not appear in the Act itself. In their Bill C-3 article, they explain how to demonstrate it, “... at least 1,095 days (three years) of cumulative physical presence in Canada…”.

Two dates often circulate this topic, adding to the confusion. Bill C-3 received Royal Assent on November 20, 2025 and came into force on December 15, 2025. December 15 is the date that matters, and the rule is forward-looking only.

The practical dividing line, as Cédric Marin explains it to clients, is the child's date of birth. Anyone born before December 15, 2025 is covered by the broader generational inclusion in Bill C-3, with no residence condition at all. For a child born on or after that date, everything turns on the parent's own days in Canada.

Also worth noting: this is not the same 1,095 days as the naturalization rule.

If you have read about a three-year physical presence requirement before, it was probably in the context of naturalization: the route permanent residents take to become citizens.

That rule requires the days to fall within the five years before applying, counts only permanent-resident days in full, and half-credits pre-permanent-resident time up to 365 days.

None of that applies here.

The substantial connection test counts any calendar day of physical presence, over your whole life before the child’s birth or adoption, with immigration status irrelevant. The two rules ending up with the same day-count threshold is simply a coincidence, and the single easiest thing to get wrong.

What Bill C-3 Changed & What It Did Not

Most news coverage says Bill C-3 removed the first-generation limit, but that is only part of the story. What it really did was replace a hard cap with an unlimited, but conditional, chain.

Under the old rule, in place from 2009, citizenship by descent stopped at the first generation born outside Canada. Under the 2025 rules, there is no generational ceiling, but every generation born abroad after the cutoff has to meet the 1,095-day requirement for itself, or transmission stops there.

Simply put, Bill C-3 did not invent a new class of citizen. It removed the cap that had prevented the earlier fixes to the Citizenship Act from cascading to later generations.

For the broader picture of what changed and why, see our guide to Bill C-3 and Americans with Canadian ancestry.

Whose Connection Counts & Who Is Exempt

The Test Measures The Parent, Not The Child

The most important distinction is that the test looks at the parent's connection to Canada. The child's own birthplace, residence, and history are irrelevant to it.

If the parent meets the 1,095 days, the child is a citizen from birth, wherever the child has lived. If the parent does not, the child is not a citizen, no matter how much time that child later spends in Canada.

What follows is what families most often get wrong.

Time spent in Canada by earlier generations, a grandparent or a great-grandparent, does not count toward the parent's 1,095 days. This is a personal test measured against whichever parent transmits citizenship, so only that parent's own days count.

It Does Not Apply If The Parent Was Born Or Naturalized In Canada

A parent born in Canada, or who naturalized in Canada, passes citizenship to a child born abroad with no physical presence test at all, because that child is the first generation born abroad. The test applies only to a parent who is themselves a citizen by descent.

The Crown Servant Exemption

Under section 3(5), the physical presence requirement does not apply where the parent was, at the time of the birth or adoption, employed outside Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration, or the public service of a province, other than as a locally engaged person.

This distinction means that nothing in the Act treats days abroad as days in Canada. Rather, the requirement falls away entirely, which is stronger and simpler.

It also reaches one generation up, so IRCC's guide CIT 0001 asks whether a parent was a Crown servant at the applicant's birth and whether a grandparent was a Crown servant at the parent's birth or adoption abroad. Proof of the employment is required either way.

How The 1,095 Days Are Counted

Lifetime Cumulative, With No Window

The days are counted across the parent's whole life, in any period before the birth or adoption. There is no window.

You may still see some sources claiming that regulations could impose one. The reality is that the implementing regulations, SOR/2025-278, were published on December 31, 2025, and impose no window or counting methodology.

In fact, Bill C-3's own legislative record treats the days as cumulative, and Form CIT 0555 asks the parent to account for presence from their own date of birth forward, which only makes sense on a cumulative reading.

This reflects the rules as of August 2026; confirm the current IRCC guidance before acting on it.

The Days Do Not Have To Be Consecutive

IRCC is explicit that the time need not be consecutive and that the days can be accumulated over multiple trips. This means that summers with grandparents, a university year, a two-year work posting, and a long string of short visits all add together.

Immigration Status Does Not Matter

Days spent as a visitor, a student, a worker, a permanent resident, or as a child with no status at all count identically.

IRCC's definition of this test is any calendar day spent in Canada, regardless of the time of day or the reason for the stay; even a partial day counts as a full day in Canada.

Who Is Affected & Who Is Already a Citizen

Anyone born or adopted abroad in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025 who qualifies under Bill C-3 became a Canadian citizen by operation of law, retroactive to their date of birth, with no physical presence test.

What they apply for is a citizenship certificate, which is evidence of a status they already hold rather than a grant of a new one.

The key distinction is that being a Canadian citizen and being able to prove it are two different things, and only the second one requires an application.

Four Exceptions Worth Knowing

It would be wrong to say there are no exceptions. There are four.

• Prior renunciation. Someone who formally renounced under the specified former provisions is excluded from the retroactive provisions.
• Revocation for fraud. Citizenship revoked for false representation, fraud, or concealment of material circumstances is not restored.
• A parent or grandparent who died. A death before Bill C-3 came into force does not break the chain. Section 3(1.5) expressly cures it, and it is the reassurance that comes up on nearly every consultation.
• A prior discretionary grant. Someone who already obtained a discretionary grant is, under section 3(6.5), reclassified as a citizen by descent from birth. Usually this is a good thing, but it also puts them back into the descent chain, which matters for their own children born abroad.

If your family story runs through an older law that cut someone off, our explainer on who the Lost Canadians are covers the historical categories in detail.

Adopted Children

Adoption is subject to the same 1,095-day standard, measured before the adoption, for adoptions finalized on or after December 15, 2025, and the Crown servant exemption applies equally.

One structural difference is that adoption runs through a grant under section 5.1 rather than automatic acquisition under section 3, so the child is not a citizen until the grant is made.

Parents expecting a child have one simple option that adoptive parents do not: they can have the child in Canada. A child born on Canadian soil is Canadian by birth, and none of the rules of descent apply.

Based on our reading of the Act, there is no adoption equivalent. Citizenship through adoption comes through a grant, and where the adoption takes place makes no difference.

For an adoptive family that cannot meet the days, only one route remains: sponsor the child for permanent residence, then apply for citizenship.

The Generational Reset: Passing Citizenship To A Child Born Abroad

Once you are a citizen by descent, the test starts again with your own children.

If you have a child abroad on or after December 15, 2025, that child is Canadian only if you personally spent 1,095 days in Canada before the birth. If that child later has children abroad, they will have to meet the requirement too.

For example, parents can have older children who qualify automatically and a younger child, born after the cutoff, whose citizenship depends entirely on a parent's days in Canada.

Proving The Days & Workarounds

Presence is declared on Form CIT 0555, which is a chronological list of every entry to and exit from Canada, including the destination and reason, running from the parent's date of birth to the child's birth or adoption.

The CIT 0014 document checklist (version 08-2026) shows the acceptable evidence and is expressly open-ended.

Start With The CBSA Travel History Report

The starting point we recommend is an access-to-information request to the Canada Border Services Agency for an official record of your travel history to Canada. It is the most objective and reliable evidence available.

The alternatives all have flaws: boarding passes and booked tickets do not establish that you actually entered the country, and a work or study permit shows you were authorized to be here without confirming the dates you were.

The CBSA Travel History Report is requested through the Access to Information and Privacy portal. It is free for your own information, takes up to about 30 days, and covers 15 years of retained records.

Two traps are worth knowing before you file. Exit information must be requested specifically, because a default request returns only entries. Also, records are linked to passport numbers, so every passport held during the period must be listed, including expired ones.

What Else Counts As Evidence

The list set out in IRCC's guide to the proof of citizenship application and the CIT 0014 checklist runs to passports and entry and exit records, school and employment records, leases and mortgages, other government records at any level, attestations by churches, unions or other organizations, and affidavits from third parties with knowledge of the residence and physical presence.

Tax records fall under government records, although tax filings evidence fiscal residence rather than a day count, so they corroborate rather than prove.

Short visits count. A single day counts. Childhood years count. The problem is never whether those days are eligible; it is proving them.

The Limit Of The CBSA Report

No source is flawless. The CBSA report shows far more entries than exits. 

Land border exits were not systematically recorded until relatively recently, and pre-2013 exit data is especially sparse, so a record that looks complete can still leave you unable to show when you left.

That is not a reason to skip the CBSA report request, but it is a reason to plan on supplementing it from the start.

What fills the gaps is the ordinary paper of a life lived in Canada: leases and mortgage statements, tax returns, school and employment records, utility bills, and, where a period cannot be documented any other way, a statutory declaration setting out what you remember and why no record exists.

Our Documents To Gather guide covers where each of these comes from and how to order them.

The CBSA’s 15-year retention window is the other constraint because it rarely reaches a parent's childhood, which is the period most parents are counting on.

If A Parent Is Short Of 1,095 Days

For most couples planning a family, the answer is simply to accumulate more time in Canada. Remember, the days do not have to be consecutive, and there is no deadline other than the birth itself.

If time is not the answer, four other routes exist:

• The other parent. Only one parent needs the 1,095 days. Where both parents are citizens, it is enough for either of them to meet it.
• The Crown servant exemption. Where the parent was serving abroad for the Crown at the time of the birth, the day count falls away entirely.
• Birth in Canada. A child born on Canadian soil is a citizen by birth under section 3(1)(a), and none of the descent rules apply. Legally, it is the simplest route on this list.
• The immigration route. If the child is not a citizen, the parent can sponsor the child for permanent residence and then apply for a grant of citizenship.

What To Do Now If You Are Planning A Family Abroad

None of this is legal work. It is record keeping, and it is the most useful thing you can do before anyone needs an answer.

• Count, in days. Reconstruct your whole life in Canada: childhood, school years, summers, work postings, extended visits. Most people significantly underestimate, because they think "I lived there until I was nine" rather than in days, and forget that visits add up.
• Order the CBSA report now. It reaches back 15 years; the sooner you request it, the more history it captures before the oldest years age out. Request exit records explicitly, and list every passport number you have ever held.
• Preserve older evidence while it can be found. School enrollment records and transcripts, immunization records, employment records, leases, tax slips, and affidavits from relatives who can attest to the childhood years. This is the material CBSA cannot give you, and the hardest to rebuild after the fact.

The June 2026 Review

You might be wondering, “Does this affect me?” Rest assured, it does not affect you if your question is about the 1,095-day test.

In June 2026, IRCC asked a group of people who had recently received citizenship certificates to surrender them while it re-examined their entitlement, and stopped finalizing new citizenship-by-descent applications while it reviewed files.

The affected files were from claimants whose claims pre-date December 15, 2025 and whose certificates were issued between December 2025 and June 2026. The deficiency was documentation of the lineage chain, not a day count. Almost nobody with a child born after the cutoff had yet applied.

The review concluded on June 30, 2026, and processing has resumed. That account comes from national media reporting of IRCC's statements and from the Minister's on-the-record remarks, not from any IRCC news release or program delivery update, and it should be read that way.

What did change is the documentation standard. IRCC tightened its guidance on acceptable documentation, reissued the document checklist, and now expects an explanation for a missing document that details each step taken to locate the original record.

Our posts on Surrender Letters and the Citizenship Proof Standard, and Lessons Learned From Our Recent Files set out what a complete package looks like now.

Processing Times & Why You Should Not Plan Around Them

IRCC's published estimate for proof of citizenship was approximately 25 months as of August 10, 2026, up from roughly 12 months in May. That figure has moved every few weeks, so check IRCC's current processing times rather than relying on any number in an article, including this one.

There is also no legal entitlement to a decision within the published estimate. On the files we are running now, applicants should plan for two to three years.

The practical advice is unglamorous: apply as early as you can, submit a genuinely complete file so you do not lose 30 to 60 days at the completeness stage or get returned outright, and if you have real urgency, document it and request urgent processing.

Lastly, do not build travel, employment, or school plans around IRCC’s published figure, as it is subject to change at any time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the 1,095-day rule apply to me?

Only if two things are both true: you are a Canadian citizen who was born or adopted outside Canada, and you have a child born or adopted outside Canada on or after December 15, 2025. If your child was born before that date, if you were born in Canada, or if you became a citizen by naturalizing in Canada, the rule does not apply to you.

What if my parent did not spend 1,095 days in Canada?

Then Canadian citizenship does not pass to a child born abroad on or after December 15, 2025. The alternatives are the other parent, if they are also a citizen and meet the threshold; the parent accumulating the days in Canada before a future birth; a child born in Canada, who is Canadian by birth regardless; the Crown servant exemption (if it applies) or sponsoring the child for permanent residence and then applying for a grant of citizenship. 

Do the days have to be consecutive, or within the last five years?

No, the days are cumulative over the parent's whole life and do not need to be consecutive. The five-year window applies to a different rule (the naturalization test for permanent residents) and does not apply here. The two rules happen to use the same figure of 1,095 days, which is a common source of confusion.

Does time as a student, worker, visitor, or permanent resident count toward the 1,095 days?

Yes, all of it counts. IRCC counts any calendar day of physical presence in Canada regardless of the reason for the stay, and a partial day counts as a full day. Immigration status is irrelevant to this test.

How do I prove days in Canada from decades ago?

Start with a travel history report from the Canada Border Services Agency, obtained through an access-to-information request. It is free, takes about a month, and covers 15 years of records, but you have to specifically request exit records and list every passport number you have held. Anything older generally has to be rebuilt from school and employment records, leases, tax slips, other government records, and sworn statements from people who can attest that you were there. IRCC's list of acceptable evidence is open-ended and expressly includes third-party affidavits.

Will my future children born abroad automatically be citizens?

If you were born in Canada, yes. If you are a citizen by descent, it depends entirely on your time in Canada, which must meet the 1,095-day requirement. 

Does becoming or claiming Canadian citizenship affect my US citizenship or taxes?

No, confirming your Canadian citizenship does not affect your US citizenship. Both countries permit dual citizenship, and you keep yours. Regarding taxes, becoming a Canadian citizen does not, by itself, create a Canadian tax liability because Canadian tax generally follows residence rather than citizenship, and the Canada-US treaty addresses double taxation. Your US filing obligations are not changed by this. This is general information, not tax advice; speak with a cross-border tax professional about your situation. Our guide to Canada-US dual citizenship goes into more detail.

Where To Start

Second-generation Canadian citizenship by descent now splits cleanly by a single date. If your child was born before December 15, 2025, the question is proof of a status that already exists. If your child will be born after it, the question is a number, and one you can still change.

Either way, the first step is the same, and you can take it yourself: calculate your time in Canada in days, and order the CBSA report while it still covers the years you need. Bring that to a consultation, and we can tell you where you stand.

This article is general information, current as of its publication date, and is not legal or tax advice for your specific situation. Citizenship rules, guidance, and processing times change, some of them quickly. Speak with a qualified professional about your own circumstances.

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