Citizenship by Descent in Canada

Citizenship through adoption is granted on application, not automatic. Have the adoption order and your adoptive parent’s proof of citizenship checked against the conditions below.

The adoption must be in the child’s best interests, create a genuine parent and child relationship, comply with the law where it took place and where the parent lived, and not have been made mainly to obtain status. A person adopted as an adult must also show the relationship existed before they turned 18. Adoptions under Quebec law go through Quebec’s international adoption authority.

Adoptions on or after 15 December 2025 carry the same three-year test as births: a parent who is Canadian through their own parent needs 1,095 days in Canada before the adoption, unless the family was abroad in Canadian government or Armed Forces service. Earlier adoptions are not affected.

The wording of the order and the law it was made under decide the answer, so have them in front of you.

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