Canada expands citizenship eligibility

Millions more Americans might qualify for dual Canadian citizenship under a recent change to Canada's requirements. And this is prompting immigration lawyers on both sides of the border to report a surge in applications. So I want to bring in CBC News Reporter Mark Carcasole. Mark, great to be with you. Can you explain this new law and how it works? Yeah, so essentially, this came into effect on December 15, just the end of last year. And what it does is it's a pretty significant change from what we had in place before. Previously, parents could only pass citizenship down one generation to their kids. This new law, passed by the government before the end of last year, has opened up citizenship to anyone who can prove, essentially, that they have Canadian ancestry in your bloodline. Doesn't have to be your parents. It could go back to your great grandparents or even further back than that. The catch is that you just have to prove it. Individuals born outside of Canada before this law was passed, December 15, 2025, must show that they have a Canadian parent or some sort of ancestor who became a Canadian citizen on or after January 1, 1947, or specifics of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which joined Canada in April 1, 1949, you can utilize that data, as well. As you mentioned. This opens up the window to several potential American people to move over. Now, I've seen online a lot of talk. It's mostly done in the context of celebrities. There's been a lot of talk that perhaps Beyoncé, because she has some relatives way back, could automatically become Canadian, or Timothée Chalamet or Madonna. That's not the case at all. There are very strict guidelines to that. Some applicants may have to trace their bloodlines back several generations to prove that they would qualify. You have to provide documents to prove that your ancestor was Canadian within the specific guidelines and that you are directly related through each generation. But as you mentioned, immigration lawyers are already finding themselves swamped with applications on both sides of the border, people who are actually maybe just curious about it or people who are actually serious about it. So for anyone interested, I'll give you the details here. The fee for just proof of citizenship application is $75 Canadian. That comes out to about just under $55 American when you do the transfer. Hiring a lawyer, though, or a genealogist or some other expert that might help you trace through the generations, that could cost you thousands. So it could get expensive. The website for the federal government says the process takes around 10 months, and there are about 56,000 people-plus who are currently in the queue awaiting a decision. So it is a lengthy process. It is a difficult process. It is a complicated process. I'm curious, Mark. How are Canadians viewing this? You know what, Liz, I got to be quite honest. This story has kind of flown under the radar here for the most part. As I said, a lot of the stories that have been reported have come over social media and through the context of, again, some American celebrities could become Canadian, which is not necessarily true, not automatically anyway. But for the most part, I think we here in Canada, we still love our American friends. And I think most people would be happy to hear this. A lot of us have relatives who are in the US who, up until the rules changed, didn't qualify. Now, perhaps this may help unite some families. So everyone I've spoken to about it seems relatively positive about it, if there's any reaction at all. It's a stark contrast to what we're seeing here in the US, where avenues to US citizenship are becoming more and more restricted. So in what ways does Canada stand to benefit from this law-- you mentioned the family reunions-- but compared to the US's stance on immigration? It's a little bit different because here in Canada, our government for many years now has advocated that we need immigration. We need more people to come into the country to fill jobs, to help the birth rate, for so many reasons. Now, that said, the government has scaled back its immigration target numbers. That's largely because the previous government has been criticized for bringing in too many people too soon, without the infrastructure and the jobs to handle them all. But Canada is still very much open to immigration. And if it's going to come from the country geographically connected to us just from the south, that makes things all that much easier. Various provincial governments have already said publicly that they are open to bringing medical experts over from the United States and those in several other fields. The licensing is very close, and a lot of times it is very much easier for certain experts in fields to come over and start working Canada right away. So it makes a lot of those processes a lot quicker, and it helps out our country in the long run. Mark Carcasole, thank you so much. Great to see you.