Citizenship Change Benefits Couples with Fertility Issues and LGBTQ2+ Couples

Friday, July 10, 2020

Canadian families are as diverse as Canadians themselves, and everyone deserves the same rights and opportunities, no matter who they love or how they identify.

In recognition of the diversity of Canadian families, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada(IRCC) announced a change in the interpretation of “parent” under the Citizenship Act. The change allows non-biological Canadian parents who are their child’s legal parent at birth to pass down Canadian citizenship to their children born abroad in the first generation.

This new interpretation helps Canadian parents who have relied on assisted human reproduction to start a family, including members of the LGBTQ2+ community and couples with fertility issues. Until now, a child born abroad was automatically recognized as a citizen at birth only if the child shared a genetic link to the Canadian parent or if the child was born to a Canadian parent in the first generation.

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