Canadian Citizenship Certificate backlog hits 136,000, wait time now nearly 3 years

Over 136,000 await Canadian citizenship certificates, as per the IRCC data/Image: AI Representative Image More than 136,000 people are now waiting for Canada to process applications for proof of citizenship, with estimated wait times exceeding 33 months following changes to the country's citizenship-by-descent rules, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data.The backlog has grown by about 14,000 applications since August, while the estimated processing time has risen from 25 months to more than 33 months. Applicants outside Canada and the US could face another three to four months of waiting, according to the IRCC estimate.The surge follows the introduction of Bill C-3 in December 2025, which removed the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent. The changes allow Canadians born abroad to pass citizenship to children also born outside Canada, subject to new requirements.The legislation also opened a route for people born before December 15, 2025, to establish citizenship if they can demonstrate a direct connection to a Canadian citizen and provide documents verifying how citizenship was passed down.More than 6,100 people had received proof of citizenship...