All individuals born in Canada are granted citizenship, as are people born abroad who undertake the Canadian citizenship process and are approved.

The Canadian Citizenship Act, which governs the issuance of citizenship, will be amended on April 17, 2009. One of the elements of the new law limits the granting of citizenship to children born abroad to Canadian parents.

Now, only the first generation of children born abroad to Canadian citizens will be accorded Canadian citizenship.

Once the law comes into effect, children born abroad to Canadian parents in the second or subsequent generations will not become Canadian citizens automatically at birth. Moreover, those who are born abroad in the second or subsequent generations before the new law is implemented, who are not already Canadian citizens, will not automatically become a citizen under the new law.