Current Situation
As of September 2026, IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) reported processing times for Canadian citizenship certificates at 33 months. This is an 8-month jump from August (25 months), meaning someone applying today would receive their certificate around mid-2029.
IRCC reports 136,000 people currently waiting for results, with 14,200 applications submitted in less than one month.
Root Cause: Expanded Citizenship by Descent Law
Since Bill C-3 expanded citizenship by descent provisions in December 2025, processing times have increased from 9 months to 33 months, and the application backlog has tripled from 40,000 to 136,000 people. The 8-month jump from August to September represents the largest monthly increase since the law took effect.
Bill C-3 removed the "first generation" restriction—meaning Canadian citizens can now prove citizenship through grandparents or great-grandparents, not just parents. This has opened the door to hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and other countries (particularly those with Canadian ancestry) to apply.
Who Is Affected
The people in this backlog are not applying to become Canadian citizens. They are applying for certificates proving they are already Canadian citizens. For some, this document is critical for employment, education, or residency in Canada.
Over 136,000 citizenship certificate applications are pending—many from U.S. residents. If you are applying from outside Canada, particularly from the United States (where approximately 28% of pending applications originate), do not let your foreign passport or visa expire assuming your Canadian certificate will arrive quickly.
Important Precautions
One of the most common and costly mistakes is confusing the two processes (citizenship certificate versus citizenship application), or assuming that a citizenship by descent application will process as quickly as a regular citizenship application.
IRCC has clarified that missing documents—particularly an unbroken chain of birth, marriage, or death certificates linking you to your Canadian ancestor—is the leading reason applications are returned or delayed further.
IRCC restricts expedited processing to narrow circumstances: needing the certificate to maintain or obtain employment, attend school, travel due to a family member's death or serious illness, establish citizenship status, sponsor a child to Canada, or renounce another citizenship by a deadline.