Citizenship‑by‑descent & dip

IRCC’s 2026–27 Departmental Plan, published March 13, 2026, formalizes a target to complete at least 80% of citizenship‑grant applications within 12 months and to have at least 96% of citizenship grant decisions meet the department’s quality standards. (canada.ca) Bill C‑3 received royal assent in November 2025 and came into force December 15, 2025, and the legislation creates a permanent “substantial‑connection” test that allows a Canadian parent born abroad to pass citizenship by descent after demonstrating 1,095 days (three years) of physical presence in Canada. (parl.ca) IRCC’s inventories show the department welcomed 227,300 new citizens between April 1, 2025 and January 31, 2026, even as external trackers reported roughly 320,300 applicants waiting for citizenship grant decisions and about 50,900 applicants in the citizenship‑certificate queue in early March 2026. (canada.ca) Statistics Canada’s preliminary quarterly estimates record a population decline of 103,504 between October 1, 2025 and January 1, 2026, bringing the total to 41,472,081 on January 1, 2026, while the non‑permanent resident population fell by 171,296 in that same quarter. (www150.statcan.gc.ca) The 2026–28 Levels Plan embedded in IRCC’s plan holds permanent resident admissions at 380,000 annually while reducing the 2026 temporary resident target to roughly 385,000, a policy shift the department links to managing system capacity and admissions space. (canada.ca) IRCC explicitly names technology and AI as tools to boost processing efficiency and risk detection across citizenship testing and application assessment in its operational plan, signaling procedural changes that will accompany the legal expansion of citizenship‑by‑descent. (immigration.ca)