Check whether you can claim a second passport through a parent, grandparent or earlier ancestor in Canada, Italy, Ireland or Poland. Each answer is read against the current 2025–26 rules — Canada’s Bill C-3 and Italy’s Law 74/2025 changed who qualifies — and links the official government authority plus the date we verified it. This is decision support, not legal advice.
Quick answer
You may hold citizenship by descent if a parent, grandparent, or earlier ancestor came from a country that grants it — no residency or language requirement; the bottleneck is documenting an unbroken line. WhereNext checks four under their current 2025–26 rules: Canada (Bill C-3), Italy (Law 74/2025), Ireland (Foreign Births Register), and Poland (pre-1951 emigration rule). Each verdict names the official government authority and the date it was verified. This is decision support, not legal advice.
Citizenship by descent · regulator-cited
Can you claim a second passport through your ancestry?
Pick your ancestor and get a sourced eligibility read under the current (2025–26) rules — every answer links the official authority and the date we verified it. Not legal advice.
The rules we check, and where they come from
Verified 2026-06-04 against each government’s own source. We never fabricate a rule, cutoff or citation.
🇨🇦 Canada
Bill C-3 (in force 15 Dec 2025) removed the first-generation limit. The first generation born abroad to a parent who was born in Canada or naturalized in Canada is a citizen by descent automatically. People born abroad in the 2nd generation or later BEFORE 15 Dec 2025 (the “Lost Canadians”) are now, in most cases, automatically citizens with no day-count test. For a child born/adopted abroad beyond the first generation ON OR AFTER 15 Dec 2025, citizenship passes only if the Canadian parent met a “substantial connection” test of 1,095 cumulative days in Canada before the birth.
2024–26 change: Before 15 Dec 2025 a first-generation limit excluded most 2nd-generation-born-abroad people (“Lost Canadians”). Bill C-3 (Royal Assent 20 Nov 2025; in force 15 Dec 2025) removed it. If you were told you had no claim under the old rule, re-check — you may be a citizen automatically now.
Generation limit: First-generation cap REMOVED (Bill C-3). Unlimited generations back for people born before 15 Dec 2025; forward, each transmission beyond the first generation needs the parent's 1,095-day substantial connection.
Jure sanguinis was sharply restricted by Art. 3-bis (D.L. 36/2025, in force 28 Mar 2025; converted to Law 74/2025, in force 24 May 2025). New claims now reach only a parent or grandparent who was EXCLUSIVELY Italian — a great-grandparent (or a dual-citizen grandparent) no longer qualifies. Claims with an application or confirmed appointment by 23:59 Rome time on 27 Mar 2025 are still judged under the OLD unlimited-generation rules.
2024–26 change: Major change: pre-28 Mar 2025 the rule was unlimited generations; from 28 Mar 2025 Art. 3-bis caps new claims at a parent or grandparent. The cap was UPHELD by the Constitutional Court (Sentenza 63/2026, deposited 30 Apr 2026) — settled on the generational limit, though the ruling did not resolve every pending question (e.g. some 1948 maternal-line arguments) — edge cases should verify with counsel.
Generation limit: NEW claims: 2 generations max (parent or grandparent, exclusively Italian). OLD rules (grandfathered by a 27 Mar 2025 application/appointment): unlimited generations if the citizenship chain was never broken.
If a parent was born on the island of Ireland (incl. Northern Ireland) you are an Irish citizen automatically. If a grandparent was born in Ireland you are entitled via the Foreign Births Register (FBR) — but citizenship is effective only from the date you register, not from birth. A great-grandparent works ONLY if your parent was already on the FBR / an Irish citizen before you were born. There is no route beyond a great-grandparent.
Generation limit: Maximum 3 generations (great-grandparent), and the great-grandparent reach requires the in-between parent to have registered on the FBR before your birth. No naturalization/emigration cutoff dates.
Poland CONFIRMS existing citizenship (it does not grant it), with NO generation limit — jus sanguinis transmits through unlimited generations IF the chain was never broken. The claim fails if an ancestor lost Polish citizenship BEFORE the next person in the line was born — most often by naturalizing abroad before 19 Jan 1951, or (for a woman) marrying a foreigner before 19 Jan 1951. Your own dual citizenship does not block confirmation.
Generation limit: No generation limit — but every link in the chain must be unbroken.