Born in Canada: a Canadian passport for your child

A passport is a right, not a permission. A visa can be refused or revoked; a citizenship your child acquires at birth belongs to them. Few countries put this as plainly as Canada: the rule fits into a single sentence of the Citizenship Act, it places no condition on the parents, and it applies without restriction to families from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Where Canada stands among the countries that grant citizenship by place of birth is set out in Birth tourism. For you, five questions matter: what your child gets, how they keep both passports, which documents they need, what they pass on, and what a birth in Canada does for you as parents.

Born in Canada: is your child automatically Canadian?

Yes, from their first breath. Section 3(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act counts as a Canadian citizen every person born in Canada after 14 February 1977. That is all it says. The law does not ask about the parents' passports, about residence, about a minimum stay in the country or about an application. Whether you have lived in Canada for years or flew in for the birth, your child is Canadian.

The only exception is in section 3(2), and it is narrowly drawn. It applies only when both conditions are met at the time of birth:

• Neither parent is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
• One parent works in Canada for a foreign state: as a diplomat, consular officer, other representative or employee of a foreign government, as an employee of such a person, or as an officer of an international organisation enjoying comparable diplomatic privileges.

For a family travelling from Germany for the birth or working in Canada, this exception plays no part. It covers diplomatic families, not visitors.

A right, not a status

The difference from a residence permit is fundamental. Section 6(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives every citizen the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada. No border officer, no authority and no later change to visa rules can take that right away from your child. A residence permit comes with conditions; citizenship by birth does not.

Who becomes Canadian by birth in Canada, and who does not

Dual citizenship in Canada and Germany: your child keeps both

If your child has a German parent, they get German citizenship wherever they are born. Section 4(1) StAG provides that a child acquires German citizenship at birth if one parent is German. Canadian citizenship arrives at the same moment. No authority, in Ottawa or in Berlin, asks your child to choose.

Canada says so expressly: multiple citizenship is allowed, and Canadian citizenship remains in place. On the German side, things have been just as relaxed since 27 June 2024. According to the Federal Office of Administration (Bundesverwaltungsamt), under the act reforming German nationality law, even acquiring another citizenship later on application no longer costs anyone their German citizenship. For a child who receives both citizenships at birth, the question never arose in the first place.

The one-year deadline that affects only some families

There is one exception you should know about. If the German parent was themselves born abroad after 31 December 1999 and lives there, the child acquires German citizenship under section 4(4) StAG only if registration in the German birth register is applied for within one year of the birth. Applying at the German embassy or consulate meets the deadline. If both parents are German, the exclusion applies only if both meet these conditions. For most families travelling from Germany to Canada for the birth, the deadline is no issue; for second-generation emigrant families, it matters a great deal. How to register the birth correctly is explained in Born abroad: how your child also gets German citizenship.

Two passports, two rules at the border

Two citizenships bring a practical duty. The Canadian government points out that dual citizens need a valid Canadian passport for every flight to Canada, even if they are only connecting there. The German passport with an eTA, as German visitors use it, is not enough for your child. The government also reminds parents that they may need to register their child in the other country too, even if the child was born in Canada. For Germany, that means a German passport from the consulate and, where required, registration of the birth.

Canadian passport for your baby: birth certificate, application, flight home

Citizenship comes with the birth; the passport does not. You apply for it, and the order of steps is clear.

First the province, then the federal government

In Canada, birth certificates are issued not by the federal government but by the province or territory where your child is born. That is where you register the birth, and which version of the certificate you get matters.

For the Canadian child passport, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires proof of citizenship. For a child born in Canada, that is the long-form birth certificate from the province or territory of birth. Your child does not need a citizenship certificate for this; the birth certificate itself proves that they are Canadian. So order the long-form version straight away. Which version each authority requires, and how to use the certificate in Germany later, is covered in Birth certificate, apostille, passport.

The child passport

One parent applies. If the parents are separated or divorced, the parent with custody applies, or alternatively a court-appointed guardian. Three rules apply to the passport that you should know when planning:

• Validity: a Canadian child passport is valid for at most five years.
• No renewal: child passports cannot be renewed; when one expires, you submit a new application.
• Adult passport from 16: the child passport stays valid until its expiry date even if your child has turned 16 in the meantime; from then on, they can apply for an adult passport themselves.

If you live outside Canada and the United States, your nearest Canadian office abroad is where you go. Only the timing really matters: the Canadian passport must be in hand before the first flight back to Canada.

The flight home to Germany

For the flight home, your child needs a passport that lets them enter Germany. That can be the Canadian one or the German one you apply for at the German consulate. You travel most calmly with both passports in hand before departure. How this works in detail is explained in Birth certificate, apostille, passport.

Canadian citizenship by descent: what your child passes on

This is where the real value of a birth in Canada lies. Your child gets not just a passport but a citizenship they can pass on.

Section 3(1)(b) of the Citizenship Act also makes Canadians of children born outside Canada after 14 February 1977 if one parent was a Canadian citizen at the time of their birth. For a child born in Canada, that means: if their own children are later born in Munich, Vienna or Zurich, they are Canadian by descent, with no further condition at all.

Only the next generation needs to show something. Under the act amending the Citizenship Act, known as Bill C-3, the following has applied since 15 December 2025 to children born or adopted abroad whose Canadian parent was themselves born abroad to a Canadian: they are Canadian if that parent spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the birth. This rule replaces the former rigid cut-off after the first generation born abroad. Anyone who was already Canadian before then stays Canadian.

For families who think in generations, this is a strong argument. A year of study in Canada, a few years of work experience in Vancouver or Montréal: a grandchild who spends 1,095 days in the country keeps the door open for their own children as well. Which other countries pass their citizenship down the generations is shown in Citizenship by descent.

Canadian citizenship: the benefits for your child

With a German passport, your child already holds a strong travel document. The Canadian one brings something else: a second home with full rights in one of the world's great immigration countries.

• Live and work without a visa: under section 6 of the Charter, every Canadian citizen may enter, remain and leave, move to any province and earn a living there. No Express Entry, no points system, no work permit.
• The right to vote: section 3 of the Charter gives every citizen the right to vote in elections to the House of Commons and the provincial legislatures.
• Passing it on: citizenship passes down one generation with no condition, and one more with 1,095 days in Canada.
• A right, not a permission: no visa that can be refused, no residence card that expires.

For families with a Plan B, that is the heart of it: what happens in Europe no longer decides your child's future on its own. The eight reasons for a second passport are set out under Why a second passport.

No tax liability from the passport

One common objection is quickly dealt with. The Canada Revenue Agency determines tax liability by residence and by significant ties to Canada: a home, a spouse or dependants in the country. In its list, a Canadian passport counts only as a secondary indicator among many others. A child living with their parents in Germany therefore does not become taxable in Canada because they are Canadian. How the tax system looks for newcomers is described in the overview of taxes in Canada (in German); what matters for families with several passports is under Taxes.

What a birth in Canada does for you as parents

Here Canada is clearer and stricter than some countries in Latin America. The birth makes the child Canadian, not the parents. Neither mother nor father gains any right to live in Canada through the birth.

Family sponsorship through a Canadian child only becomes relevant much later. Section 130(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations requires a sponsor to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, at least 18 years old and, as a rule, living in Canada. For the parents of a newborn, that is not a plan but at best an option two decades away.

Your own route to Canada

If you want to become Canadian yourself, you take the regular route: first permanent residence, then, after several years of genuine physical presence in the country, naturalisation. How this works for Germans step by step is explained in Canadian citizenship for Germans. The emigration route itself, from work permit to permanent residence, is described by Wohnsitz Ausland in Moving to Canada as a German (in German).

A second passport for you, without waiting for Canada

Many parents realise while planning the birth that their child will soon be better placed than they are. Naturalisation remains the free route and, in the end, the better one, but it takes years and requires genuine residence. Citizenship by investment buys you that time: you hold a second passport today, while the birth in Canada gives your child one of their own. Which programmes include spouses and children is shown on the Family page; the programmes side by side are under Comparison.

Planning a birth in Canada: entry, stay, health insurance

A birth in Canada is simple in law and demanding in organisation. Three points decide whether things run smoothly.

Entry with an eTA

Germans do not need a visitor visa for Canada. If you arrive by air, however, you need an electronic travel authorisation, the eTA; Germany is expressly on the list of eTA countries. The border officer decides how long you may stay. Under section 183(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, it is generally six months or another period the officer sets, and the officer may take into account, for example, how you are funding your stay and how long you intend to remain. Answer every question about the purpose of your trip truthfully, and carry your return flight, accommodation and proof of funds in writing. Giving birth in Canada is not a trick; it is a right Canada grants every child.

Health insurance: as a visitor, you pay yourself

Canadian public health insurance is a matter for the provinces, and it covers residents. Ontario puts it unmistakably: visitors from other provinces or from abroad are not eligible for OHIP, the provincial plan. For you, that means you pay the hospital, the doctors and any neonatal care yourselves, or through a policy that expressly covers a planned birth. How the provincial plans work and when immigrants are admitted is shown in the overview of insurance in Canada (in German). Choosing a hospital, getting cost estimates and what German health insurance pays abroad are covered in Planning a birth abroad.

The roadmap

Allow plenty of time after the birth. Registration, birth certificate and passport take weeks, not days, and you only book the flight home for certain once the passports are in your hands. The order of the authorities in Canada and in Germany is described step by step in Birth certificate, apostille, passport.

Canada or another birthright country?

Canada is not the only country that gives your child citizenship at birth, but it combines three things that rarely come together: a rule with no condition on the parents, a citizenship that creates no tax liability merely because of the passport, and a country where your child can later study, work and live as a citizen. What Canada does not give you as parents is residence of your own through the child. If you want both, the passport for your child and a fast route for yourselves, plan the birth in Canada together with a second passport of your own. All programmes with processing times and family rules are under Programmes.

Frequently asked questions