Millions of Americans are now eligible for Canadian citizenship and many are applying ‘just in case’ | CNN

Not “eligible” for citizenship, actually de facto citizens. If your ancestor is from Canada, you are a Canadian citizen. People “applying” (such as myself) are simply writing for official recognition.

I helped my partner apply earlier this year (as the law is still relatively new). As a warning, since then, the costs associated have skyrocketed due to the number of people applying. You better be ready to dig up all the birth/marriage records to prove it. For us, this also required parsing through old Québécois church logbooks written in liturgical French. Wait times have also gone up across the board, the current wait time once you apply is over a year

That said, I did quite enjoy the research and I'm happy to say que mon français est assez bon pour lire un ancien document écrit à main pendant les années 50

Edit: we applied since we already live here

There is an archive of the article.

When Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, New York State resident Ellen Robillard briefly looked into getting Canadian citizenship. Her mother, after all, was born in Nova Scotia. As a Democrat, Robillard was despondent at the election results, but she abandoned the idea after realizing that her young son wouldn’t be eligible for citizenship under a law that barred Canadians born abroad from passing their citizenship to children if they were also born outside Canada. In 2023, however, the Canadian courts ruled that law unconstitutional and the changes to eligibility came into effect in December, suddenly opening up a pathway to Canadian citizenship for many Americans at a time of political upheaval, violence and uncertainty in the US. Robillard, 52, is applying for citizenship with her son now that the first-generation rule has been scrapped. Since criteria for citizenship expanded with the passage of Bill C-3 of Canada’s Citizenship Act, millions of Americans have become eligible to claim Canadian citizenship. The amendment reverses a “first-generation” limit imposed by Canada’s Conservative government in 2009. As the leader of her local Democratic Committee in a suburb of Rochester, New York, Robillard fears that if the political violence escalates, she could have a target on her back. Robillard is an outspoken activist in her town of 3,000, has received veiled threats on social media, and was once followed home after a protest.

My mom was born in Italy, but denounced her Italian citizenship before turning 18. Because she did it before turning 18 I do not qualify for Italian citizenship. If they ever change that age limit restriction I am getting the fuck out of here

Y’all need an engineer? I love hockey, snowboarding, and poutine.

We already had much of the family archives gathered for genealogical research done. There was a (mostly unknown) great grandfather that we didn't track down. We just knew he was from canada, fathered one of the ancestors and bailed back to Saskatchewan.

Turns out he's now findable online (new records were added) and he's multi generational Canadian. The birth certificate has been ordered. The process might take a while, but we're filing the day his records show up in our mailbox.

Now we just need Canada to join the EU somehow and all of the stars will align.

Once again, more comedy for the men in the Kremlin.

My grandpa was a naturalized Irish citizen. Wlll they take me?

I’d absolutely be all for it, but I don’t have a degree and no ancestors that came from the area, so I’m boned.

Do we really need a bunch of peops who have been poorly educated (majority at this point) coming here?

so they can vote the next country into the shit?

‘Just in case’

These people think they’re so privileged ay.