Canada is gearing up for a major revamp of its citizenship laws, a move that could benefit thousands of Indian-origin families. Bill C-3, which amends Canada’s Citizenship Act, has recently received royal assent, marking a key step towards its implementation. The law is not yet in force — the federal government must still fix the effective date, but the assent signals that Ottawa intends to move quickly. The bill addresses a long-standing problem known as the “second-generation cut-off”. Under current rules, a Canadian citizen born outside the country cannot automatically pass on citizenship to their child if that child is also born abroad. This has created a class of “lost Canadians” — people who believed they were entitled to citizenship but were excluded due to archaic laws.

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