I'm Olivia Cohen, a Canadian immigration lawyer. Six months into Bill C-3, ask me who actually qualifies for citizenship by descent and the common misreadings of who doesn't. Ask Me Anything
Hi Reddit,
I'm Olivia Cohen. I practice immigration and citizenship law.
Quick note on the account: I'm posting from u/canadavisa_com, the official account for CanadaVisa and Cohen Immigration Law, a law firm in Montreal that's been doing this since 1976.
Proof: https://imgur.com/a/c5vxUP7
Bill C-3 became an act on December 15, 2025, and removed the
first-generation limit on Canadian citizenship by descent.
Simply put: a lot of people born outside Canada to a Canadian parent, grandparent, or in some
cases, great-grandparent are already Canadian citizens by law. They just need to prove it.
Six months in, the same misreadings keep coming up. People who think they
qualify and don't. People who don't think they qualify and do.
The chain isn't always intuitive, and the documents can be the hard part.
Happy to take questions on:
- Who actually qualifies under Bill C-3, and the common misreadings of who doesn't
- The documents you need, and what to do when records are missing or in another language
- Lost Canadians and how the new law affects them
- The Dec 15, 2025 cutoff for passing citizenship to children born abroad
- IRCC processing realities (the backlog is real and growing)
I can share general legal information in the thread, but I can't give case-specific advice publicly. Every situation is different, and the details matter.
I'll be live from Tuesday, June 30, 12:30 PM ET to 4:30 PM AM ET, and I'll check back over the next few days for anything I miss.
Ask me anything.
Olivia