Immigration research
Canada
Points-based, with the deepest public data of any system here.
Research Canadian immigration for your situation.
Tell us where you are, what you do, and what you are trying to understand about moving to Canada.
Main pathways
Want to move quickly, no Canadian employer needed?
Express Entry
The main route for skilled workers -- Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class, and Federal Skilled Trades all draw from the same pool, ranked by Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score.
Official source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) — Express Entry overview →Have a job or connection to a specific province?
Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)
A province nominates you based on its own labor needs, which adds 600 CRS points -- effectively guarantees an invitation.
Official source: IRCC — Provincial Nominee Program →Want to start a business in Canada?
Start-up Visa
For founders with a qualifying Canadian venture-capital, angel investor, or business incubator commitment.
Official source: IRCC — Start-up Visa →Have a Canadian citizen or permanent resident spouse or parent?
Family sponsorship
A Canadian citizen or permanent resident spouse, partner, or parent sponsors your residency.
Considering studying in Canada first?
Study Permit
Lets you study at a designated learning institution. On its own it's a temporary status, not an immigration pathway.
After graduating, the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) lets you work in Canada -- that work experience is what qualifies for Express Entry's Canadian Experience Class.
Official source: IRCC — Study permit: about the process →Think a Canadian parent or grandparent may already make you a citizen?
Citizenship certificate (proof of citizenship)
For people who may already be Canadian citizens by descent -- this gets you the government document proving it, it is not an application for new immigration status.
Confirmed citizens can then apply for a Canadian passport using the certificate.
Facts that would change how you’d research this (5)
Your ancestor's own citizenship status and how they became a citizen (born in Canada vs. naturalized, and when).
Citizenship by descent only starts counting generations from a citizen who was born in Canada or naturalized -- this is the anchor fact everything else is counted from.
Which generation you are, counting from that ancestor (first generation born outside Canada, second, or later).
Before Bill C-3, only the first generation born outside Canada could inherit citizenship automatically. Bill C-3 (effective December 15, 2025) opened a path for the second generation and later, but with additional conditions -- which generation you are determines which rule set applies to your case.
If you're second-generation-or-later and were born on or after December 15, 2025: whether your Canadian parent spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before your birth.
This 'substantial connection' test is the specific condition Bill C-3 added for later generations born after it took effect -- it does not apply to people born before that date.
Birth certificates and marriage records for every generation between you and the Canadian ancestor.
A missing link or an unexplained name change (from a marriage, for example) breaks the documented chain IRCC needs to see, even if the underlying facts are true -- this is often the actual bottleneck, not the citizenship rule itself.
Whether you or a family member already applied under the 2023 interim measure (before Bill C-3 passed).
IRCC says it will process those applications under the new rules automatically -- you would not need to submit a new application.
How Express Entry ranks candidates
Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), 0–1,200 points
Based on age, education, language scores, and skilled work experience; a qualifying job offer or provincial nomination adds points.
Most recent Express Entry draw
389 CRS cutoff
Senior managers with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1 draw, 250 invitations issued, 2026-09-16.
Direct sourceLowest recent draw
198 CRS cutoff
Physicians with Canadian Work Experience, 2026-Version 1 draw, 229 invitations, 2026-09-03 — the lowest among the 10 most recent draws.
Direct sourceCitizenship certificate processing time
About 33 months
IRCC's own words: "This processing time is how long we expect it will take us to process an application if we receive it today... It may vary depending on how many applications we get or if your application is complex."
Direct sourcePeople waiting for a citizenship certificate decision
About 136,000 people waiting
IRCC's own inventory count for this application type, updated September 3, 2026.
Direct sourceStep flow
Express Entry, step by step — with IRCC’s own ordering rules
IRCC’s published page order, plus the 6 ordering rules IRCC states in its own words — each moved next to the step it governs, and marked as a requirement or as advice depending on which IRCC wrote.
Citizenship certificate processing time, over time
Each point below is a real value IRCC published on that date, not an estimate of a trend line. This is the first data point on this site shown as a series rather than a single current value.
What Bill C-3 changed
Before Bill C-3, Canadian citizenship by descent was limited to the first generation born outside Canada (the “first-generation limit,” in effect since 2009). A person born abroad in the second generation or later could not automatically inherit citizenship from a Canadian parent who was themselves born or naturalized outside Canada.
Bill C-3 (effective December 15, 2025) removed that limit in some situations. For people born or adopted outside Canada in the second generation or later before December 15, 2025, citizenship may have been restored or given automatically. For those born or adopted on or after December 15, 2025, the same second- generation-or-later inheritance is possible only if the Canadian parent had spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the birth or adoption — a substantial-connection test that did not exist before Bill C-3 and does not apply to anyone born before that date.
This describes what the rule change is, not what it means for any individual case — see the facts listed on the pathway above for what would actually determine that.
Where to request the documents this depends on
Canada has no single national registry for birth and marriage records — each province and territory runs its own. If your documented chain crosses more than one, you may need to contact more than one office. Links only, no guidance on which records you specifically need.
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Manitoba
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia
- NunavutWe don't verify this link automatically — the site allows us, but it answers automated requests with a browser check instead of the page, and we don't work around those.
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Quebec
- Saskatchewan
- YukonWe don't check this link automatically — we can't read this site's robots.txt, and our rule is that we don't send automated requests to a site whose permissions we can't read.
US state-level equivalents aren’t listed yet — deferred, not omitted by mistake.
What this data covers
Public Canada government information across 6 pathways and 5 sourced data points. Not a comprehensive guide to Canada immigration law.
⚠ It doesn't assess your eligibility or predict an outcome. immigrate.io's source-linked case research currently only covers US EB-2 NIW petitions.
Last updated 2026-08-20
Official resources
- Express Entry overview →
- College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) (regulator) — link unavailable, we’re verifying it
Canada requires paid immigration advice to come from a lawyer, notary (Quebec), or an RCIC (Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant) licensed by the CICC.
Keep your Canada research in one file
A matter holds the document list, the dates you enter, the published costs and the questions you still need answered — for this country, in one place. Everything above stays readable without an account.
Start a Canada matter →