Canadian citizenship certificate applications submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are facing an estimated wait time of 33 months, driven by a backlog of more than 136,000 pending files. The surge follows the implementation of Bill C-3, legislative changes that allow individuals born abroad to trace their lineage back through Canadian ancestors across multiple generations.
The Policy Shift That Triggered a National Backlog
Prior to the rule change, which officially went into effect on Dec. 15, Canadian citizenship by descent was restricted to the first generation born or adopted outside Canada to a Canadian citizen. Those earlier boundaries had left many individuals—colloquially referred to as “lost Canadians”—without recognized status.
Under the updated legislation, people living anywhere in the world who can trace their ancestry to a Canadian forebear can qualify for citizenship, even if their qualifying ancestor left Canada several generations back. While officials initially downplayed the potential volume, the policy triggered a rush. In May 2025, right before the legislation took effect, the estimated processing time for a citizenship certificate sat at five months. Today, that wait has expanded to nearly three years, marking a 32 percent jump in wait times and an 11 percent increase in total volume since an update on Aug. 10.
Archives across Canada have been inundated with requests for historical documents. Applicants are digging through records spanning seven or eight generations to establish a viable genealogical link. Data from IRCC shows that as of May 31, half of the individuals newly recognized as Canadian citizens under Bill C-3 were born in the United States.
Inside the Numbers: Who Is Applying and Why
The demographic makeup of applicants dispels certain social media narratives. While online speculation suggested that older Americans were rushing to secure Canadian citizenship primarily to access universal health care, the actual intake figures tell a different story. Government statistics indicate that only 3,650 certificates of all types went to applicants over the age of 55.
Instead, the largest age demographic consists of children under age 14, accounting for 16,435 certificates—many of them likely babies born abroad. Meanwhile, gender distribution among certificates granted between Dec. 15 and June was balanced, with 16,250 issued to male applicants, 16,285 to female applicants, and 45 listing their gender as “other.”
Despite the balanced demographics, the administrative machinery tasked with processing these files is straining. Christine Beltempo, president of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration section and a lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault, noted that immigration practitioners have tracked the mounting delays closely.
“We have known since the first drafts of Bill C-3 that this would cause a lot of uptake in the number of applications for proof of citizenship,” Beltempo said, adding that her members remain concerned about the exponential increase.
Operational Strain and Future Outlook
Immigration officials face pressure to scale up operations to match the demand. Beltempo emphasized that the department needs to assign more personnel to this specific business line to restore processing times to what she considers normal standards for individuals who are presumably Canadians.
When Diab appeared before a parliamentary committee in October 2025, she estimated that the total volume driven by Bill C-3 would remain in the tens of thousands over time, explicitly stating that the government did not expect a surge. Instead, archives and processing centers experienced a deluge.
IRCC spokesperson Briannah Dale addressed the backlog by pointing to a combination of driving factors beyond just the legislative changes. Dale noted that the department continues to monitor application trends closely and is implementing operational adjustments.
“The department is continuing to monitor application trends and volumes and is implementing operational measures to respond to increased demand, including triaging applications, enhancing intake processes, training and onboarding additional staff and refining workload management practices,” Dale said.
Dale also explained that processing times vary because many applications involve complexity, often requiring substantial documentary evidence and additional verification. As the department works to onboard and train new staff, thousands of applicants remain in limbo, waiting nearly three years to hold physical proof of a nationality anchored generations in their family trees.
