Canada is going to implement a new citizenship law

Canada has recently introduced a ‘New Citizenship Bill’ (New Citizenship Bill C-3). Introduced in Parliament on Thursday by Immigration Minister Lena Metlage Diab, the bill seeks to abolish the current rule of obtaining Canadian citizenship on the basis of inheritance. According to the rule introduced in 2009, any child born or adopted abroad of a Canadian citizen born outside Canada did not get Canadian citizenship. Now, a proposal has been made to amend this rule. Under Canada’s current citizenship law, hereditary citizenship is limited to the first generation born in Canada. Therefore, no Canadian citizen born outside Canada can pass on their citizenship to their child born (or adopted) abroad. A proposal called Bill C-3 has been introduced in Parliament in 2009 to correct the error in this law. While the Trump administration’s tightening of immigration policies in the US is having an adverse impact on Indians, the upcoming immigration reforms in Canada are expected to benefit Indian immigrants (including all immigrant communities) as children born in India to Canadian citizens with significant ties to Canada will now be eligible for Canadian citizenship under Bill C-3. This benefit will also extend to children adopted abroad after the first generation.