A Canadian Grandparent Is Not a Route, and the Second Generation Now Turns on Days
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
107 exceptions recorded across 42 countries · none match Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Canada · Residency through ancestry
There is no ancestry class in subsection 70(2) of the Regulations: descent from a Canadian gets nobody a permanent resident visa. Descent can make you a citizen outright, and that is a different question with a sharp limit on it. A person born abroad to a Canadian parent is a citizen under paragraph 3(1)(b) - but where that parent was themselves a citizen by birth abroad, subsection 3(3) now withholds it unless the parent was physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days before the birth. The 2025 amendment replaced a flat bar on the second generation with that day count, so the question is no longer which generation you are but how long your parent actually lived in Canada.
At a glance
- A residence route by ancestry
- None in subsection 70(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
The list in that subsection is closed.
- Citizenship by descent, first generation
- Automatic
Paragraph 3(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act.
- Beyond the first generation
- 1,095 days of the Canadian parent's physical presence in Canada before your birth
- What changed
- A flat bar became a presence test, by An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)
- Whose days are counted
- The parent's, before the child was born - not the child's
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«(b) the person was born outside Canada after February 14, 1977 and at the time of his birth one of his parents, other than a parent who adopted him, was a citizen;»About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(3) Paragraph (1)(b) does not apply to a person born outside Canada on or after the day on which An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) comes into force - (a) if - (i) at the time of the person’s birth - (A) only one of the person’s parents was a citizen and that parent was a citizen under any of paragraphs (1)(b), (c.1), (e), (g) to (j) and (o) to (r) and was born outside Canada, - (B) only one of the person’s parents was a citizen and that parent was a citizen under paragraph (1)(f) and was born outside Canada to a parent who was a citizen at the time of their birth, or - (C) both of the person’s parents were citizens under any of paragraphs (1)(b), (c.1), (e) to (j) and (o) to (r) and were born outside Canada and, in the case of a parent who was a citizen under paragraph (1)(f), that parent was born to a parent who was a citizen at the time of their birth, and - (ii) neither of the person’s parents who was a citizen was physically present in Canada for at least 1,095 days before the person's birth; or»The quotation covers paragraph (a), which deals with births after the 2025 Act came into force. Paragraph (b) applies the same day count to people whose parent was a citizen under the older Acts it lists.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«70 (1) An officer shall issue a permanent resident visa to a foreign national if, following an examination, it is established that - (a) the foreign national has applied in accordance with these Regulations for a permanent resident visa as a member of a class referred to in subsection (2); - (b) the foreign national is coming to Canada to establish permanent residence; - (c) the foreign national is a member of that class; - (d) the foreign national meets the selection criteria and other requirements applicable to that class; and - (e) the foreign national and their family members, whether accompanying or not, are not inadmissible. - Marginal note: Classes (2) The classes are - (a) the family class; - (b) the economic class, consisting of the federal skilled worker class, the Quebec skilled worker class, the provincial nominee class, the Canadian experience class, the federal skilled trades class, the Atlantic immigration class, the Quebec investor class, the Quebec entrepreneur class, the start-up business class, the self-employed persons class and the Quebec self-employed persons class; and - (c) the Convention refugees abroad class and the country of asylum class.»Quoted here for the absence: no class in the list is entered by descent.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Citizenship by descent is not a visa and does not need one. Someone who holds it was never a foreign national, which is why this sits apart from every other route on this page.
Subsection 3(5) exempts the child or grandchild of a person in service abroad from the limit entirely. The exceptions in subsections (5) to (6.5) were not read in full for this record.
- consolidatesCitizenship Act
Justice Laws Website, Department of Justice Canada
About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source