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Americans are rushing to archive centres to prove Canadian ancestry for citizenship
Archivists and genealogists have reportedly been flooded with inquiries from Americans following recent changes to Canadian citizenship legislation.
Bill C-3, popularly known as the “ Lost Canadians Act “, came into effect in December 2025, and allows anyone with a direct ancestor born in Canada, regardless of how many generations back, to claim Canadian citizenship.
The change has reportedly triggered a surge in U.S. residents seeking birth certificates, marriage certificates, hospital records and other documents proving their Canadian ancestry.
Patrick Lacroix, director of the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Acadian Archives, recently told Bangor Daily News that he has already received roughly 100 inquiries this year, which is on track to more than double the total received in all of 2025.
He added that while requests last year mostly came from genealogists or hobbyists, many this year have been from people asking for authenticated documents that meet the Canadian government’s submission requirements.
“Many of them are very explicit about their goal,” he told the publication. “There is no question that some of it is politically driven.”
An influx of requests has been felt on this side of the border, too. A spokesperson for National Library and Archives of Québec (BAnQ) told National Post in an email that there has been “an exceptional volume of requests coming from the United States” since the adoption of Bill C‑3 last December.
“In March 2026 alone, BAnQ received around 1,500 requests, compared with 43 requests in March 2025,” they said.
Patrick White, a journalism professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, said in a previous email to National Post in February that he has seen heightened interest in obtaining Canadian citizenship from descendants of French Canadians who migrated from Quebec to New England.
He said: “The current climate in the U.S. is leading many of them to inquire about the possible acquisition of Canadian citizenship because of the changes made here in December. This is a ‘Plan B’ for them.”
And Nova Scotia Archives has posted a notice to its website in response to increased demand, saying: “We are currently experiencing greater volumes of requests than normal…it may take us up to thirty (30) business days to reply.”
The institution saw 10 times more requests in January and February this year than in the same period in 2025, according to CBC .
Meanwhile, Vancouver immigration lawyer Amandeep Hayer said there has been “a noticeable increase” in the number of people from the U.S. seeking Canadian citizenship in a February email to National Post. Other countries include Japan, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, “but it has been overwhelmingly American, 95 per cent.”
Canada’s immigration services received 8,900 proof of citizenship applications in January 2026, up 50 per cent on the year before. Of those applications, 2,470 (almost 28 per cent) were from the U.S., according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
At the time of writing, there are 260,800 total citizenship applications in process, according to IRCC .
Not all Americans who are applying for Canadian citizenship want to move north, however.
Beyond serving as a back-up plan, there are practical advantages to holding a Canadian passport, which currently ranks above that of the U.S. in the Henley Passport Index .
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