Both the wait times and the number of people waiting for a decision regarding their proof-of-citizenship application has surged exponentially since Bill C-3 came into effect, according to new data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. More than 136,000 people are awaiting a decision, with estimated wait times now more than 33 months. They include people eligible for citizenship under the amended rules and those who are first-generation descendants. In the case of applications from outside Canada or the United States, the estimated wait time could take an additional three or four months. The wait time has increased by eight months from this August, when it was estimated to be 25 months. The number of applications has also increased by 14,000. Bill C-3, which came into effect in December 2025, amended the Citizenship Act to end the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent, meaning Canadians born outside the country can also pass their citizenship to their children who are born outside the country. It also expanded eligibility to people born before Dec. 15, 2025, if they can prove they’re directly descended from a Canadian ancestor – even if that ancestor left the country years ago. Half of applications come from U.S. According to data provided by the IRCC in August, more than 6,100 people have obtained proof of citizenship under these new rules since late 2025. As of May 31, 51 per cent of all approved citizenship applications under the new eligibility criteria came from people born in the U.S., according to data provided by the IRCC. One immigration lawyer says the new numbers are “staggering” and “far beyond the capacity of IRCC” to process in a reasonable timeframe. Kyle Hyndman, an immigration lawyer from Victoria, B.C., told CTVNews.ca on Thursday, that a “significant” number of applications are coming from the south of the border. “Both what’s happening in the U.S. politically – and also news coverage of the Canadian citizenship situation in the U.S. – have both spurred a lot of interest,” Hyndman said. “That’s certainly part of the surge, and that’s put all kinds of pressure on every stage in this process,” he said. ‘A year too late’ Hyndman, who previously served as chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Immigration Law Section, said Bill C-3 is certainly a part of the surge, but so is the pressure on the resources of the IRCC. The unit that handles proof-of-citizenship applications would usually have a small number to deal with, he said, and had the capacity to handle those. But according to Hyndman, it hasn’t been scaled up “sufficiently” to handle the sharp intake. “Now we’re hearing that they are staffing up, but it seems to me that’s happening almost a year too late,” Hyndman added. “Many of these problems could have been prevented if they’d heeded the warnings earlier on and really prepared for that.” ‘A predictable uptake’ Christine Beltempo, the current chair of the Canadian Bar Association National Immigration Law Section and a lawyer with the national law firm McCarthy Tétrault, told CTVNews.ca on Friday that she’s seeing many applications coming in from other countries besides the U.S., like Mexico. “You’re creating additional bureaucracy for some people who actually are presumably, according to the new law, Canadian citizens,” she said, referring to people from countries like Mexico, who need a visa application to enter Canada, unless they get their citizenship certificate. Outside of the U.S., the most approved applications are from Mexico, Bolivia, the United Kingdom and its territories, China, India, Bolivia, France, Australia and Italy, according to the IRCC’s data. Beltempo called the surge in processing times “a predictable uptake,” following the amendment to Bill C-3, which is leading to “frustration” among applicants who were looking forward to this legislative change. “What we’re seeing is disappointment, frustration, mixed emotions and certainly people finding it very difficult to plan their lives and their futures in Canada, without having a predictable amount of time before which they can actually get their documentation,” she said. Beltempo added that the IRCC is facing backlogs in other departments as well, which needs to be examined by the federal government. She says it’s concerning for associations like the Canadian Bar Association, in terms of access to justice and other programs. “I think it’s important to remind the public that this change came as a result of a court finding that the previous law was unconstitutional.” ‘When you’re Canadian, you have the right to be here’ Before Bill C-3 was amended, Canadian citizenship by descent was limited to first-generation individuals, born or adopted outside the country by a Canadian citizen. That restriction was subsequently struck down in a 2023 ruling by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which found it unconstitutional. Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer and policy analyst from Vancouver, told CTVNews.ca Friday, that the sudden uptick in the number of applications and the increase in estimated wait times is a combination of the political tension between Canada and the U.S., in addition to the Bill C-3 amendment. “They certainly drop the ball in failing to resource the citizenship people to process, resulting in three years and longer processing times,” Richard Kurland said. “When you’re Canadian, you have the right to be here.” Kurland said despite people having a claim to Canadian citizenship, the province they enter cannot allow them access to health care, public education or employment without the paperwork from the IRCC. “There’s no way that the (federal) government could not know that the inventories would become bloated (and) processing times would go through the ceiling,” he said. “They dropped the ball big time.” Meanwhile, multiple factors are to blame for an increase in the volume of applications outside of Bill C-3, an IRCC spokesperson told CTVNews.ca in a statement on Friday. “Complex cases often require substantial documentary evidence and additional verification, which can extend timelines,” the spokesperson wrote. “The current estimate should be understood in that context, rather than as a direct comparison with historical figures that were calculated using different inventories or methodologies.” With files from CTV News’ Daniel Otis and The Canadian Press
