If your grandparent was born in Canada and later became an American, you may be a Canadian citizen by descent. You may have been one since the day you were born.

Canada’s immigration department used a family like yours to train its own officers on these cases. In December 2025, according to internal IRCC training materials released through an access to information request, officers studied the case of “Clifford.” He’s a hypothetical American, born in 1998.

Under Canada’s new citizenship law, Clifford is Canadian. His citizenship counts from his date of birth.

Clifford’s family at a glance

IRCC’s example runs across three generations.

Generation	Born	Status before December 15, 2025	Status today
Grandparent	Canada, 1938	Moved to the U.S. and lost Canadian citizenship on becoming American; restored in 2009	Canadian
Parent	Outside Canada	Canadian, as the first generation born abroad	Canadian
Clifford	United States, 1998	Not a citizen, because of the first-generation limit	Canadian

What is the first-generation limit?

From 2009 until December 2025, Canadian citizenship could pass down to only one generation born outside Canada.

Clifford’s parent was the first generation born outside Canada, so the parent counted. Clifford was the second, so he didn’t. Bill C-3 removed the limit for everyone born before December 15, 2025.

How four laws shaped Clifford’s family

Four laws over 78 years shaped Clifford’s family. A fifth, in 2015, covered people who lost their status before 1947.

Year	What changed	What it meant for families like Clifford’s
1947	Canada’s first citizenship law took effect. It didn’t allow dual citizenship.	Canadians who took another country’s citizenship lost their Canadian citizenship in most cases.
1977	A new Citizenship Act allowed dual citizenship from February 15, 1977.	Canadians who became Americans from that date on kept their citizenship. Parliament didn’t reverse earlier losses.
2009 and 2015	Two laws restored most “Lost Canadians” and their children born abroad: 2009 for losses from 1947 on, and 2015 for those who lost their status before 1947. The 2009 law also limited citizenship