Ottawa currently takes up to 34 months to print a single document confirming citizenship. With 130,000 active ‘Lost Canadians’ applications awaiting processing and 1.5 million who could apply, the government cannot increase immigration in 2027. Despite a slight dip in October, Ottawa must partially freeze new economic intake and redirect its workforce to work through the citizenship-by-descent caseload – driven primarily by US applicants.
Unlike immigration visas which the minister can pause, delay or even cancel, issuing a citizenship certificate to those who can prove their Canadian ancestry is a mandatory legal obligation under the revised Citizenship Act. The government cannot silently impose a quota on its own citizens through understaffing. The resources to manage the backlog already exist within the Immigration department. By pausing portions of its economic immigration levels for 2027, encompassing multiple pathways, it has authority to redirect and cross-train existing personnel to serve as Citizenship Adjudication Officers.
Bill C-3, which received Royal Assent in late 2025, addresses the “Lost Canadians” controversy by overturning a longstanding first-generation limit on citizenship-by-descent. In December 2023, the Ontario Superior Court (Bjorkquist v. Attorney General of Canada) ruled that preventing Canadian citizens born abroad from passing citizenship to their foreign-born children was unconstitutional. This decision was supposed to dismantle 76 years of arbitrary restrictions imposed since the 1947 Citizenship Act—not replace them with an endless administrative waiting room.
IRCC’s delaying of Bill C-3 applicants’ ability to prove and exercise their citizenship effectively treats these specific citizens—identifiable solely by their foreign birth—as second-class compared to citizens born on Canadian soil who face no such barriers. An explosion in processing delays—up from 10 months earlier this year—effectively nullifies the legislative remedy intended to restore their equality.
Economically, prioritizing the claims of mostly US-born applicants makes far more sense than chasing new global immigration talent pools. This group shares deep ancestral roots, a common language, cultural overlap and organic connections with Canada dating back to pre-Confederation. While most are simply securing their rightful status, many of those who move here are likely to quickly assimilate into our labour market, bypassing the credential-recognition bottlenecks that often slow down international skilled workers lacking North American experience.
With CTV, PBS and peer-reviewed research putting the number of eligible Canada-US dual citizens in the millions, getting ahead of this rapidly growing queue pays for itself. Many of those who relocate arrive as work-ready, English-speaking talent — filling high-skilled and trades shortfalls without the settlement costs attached to discretionary immigration streams. And even those who remain in the US will establish their financial footprint here: bank accounts, property purchases and investment, bringing American capital into the Canadian economy.
How many US-born Lost Canadians will actually relocate? In December 2024, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that about 115,000 people would be affected. In an October 2025 briefing for the House immigration committee, IRCC said it expected “tens of thousands” to be affected by Bill C-3.
Up to 5 million Americans may now qualify for Canadian citizenship under Bill C-3, according to historical emigration data. If just 30% apply within three years, IRCC would receive 1.5 million US applications from a group that already makes up 51.3% of successful claimants, according to the CBC. In our survey of 409 applicants, nearly 15% said they are very likely to move to Canada within five years of approval, and almost 6% within 12 months. That works out to roughly 225,000 arrivals in five years, about 90,000 of them in year one. The number will grow to 280,000 as newly minted citizens sponsor foreign-born spouses.
Reallocating IRCC resources to reduce the growing Bill C-3 caseload is a legal necessity. The current 34-month delay transcends administrative inefficiency—it arguably infringes Section 6 Charter mobility rights. Because a citizenship certificate is a prerequisite for a passport, this bottleneck functionally denies Canadians the practical means to enter or leave the country. Ottawa must resolve this impending constitutional crisis before the Federal Court forces its hand.
A partial pause on discretionary intake would give policymakers the breathing room needed to restore shattered public trust and overhaul a broken system. Instead of setting unsubstantiated immigration quotas, Ottawa could finally rebuild a legislative framework that genuinely aligns economic and demographic needs with modernized selection criteria.
When the 2027 immigration levels are tabled in early November, Ottawa must strategically freeze targeted economic streams, redirect its bureaucracy and finally grant Lost Canadians the recognition they are constitutionally entitled to. This single shift would ensure the government prioritizes its citizens’ constitutional rights over outdated, arbitrary bureaucratic policies.