Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has taken the unprecedented step of suspending recently approved citizenship certificates and ordering recipients to return them for review.

The move, which is being reported as beginning on Friday, June 13, 2026, has sent shockwaves through the citizenship-by-descent community and caught immigration lawyers off guard.

A number of people who received Canadian citizenship certificates under Bill C-3 are now being told that their approved applications are under renewed scrutiny.

This latest development follows growing concerns around Canada’s new citizenship by descent rules and the practical risks we identified in our analysis published earlier this month, where we warned that the framework’s permissive documentary standards could create serious integrity questions for the program.

The review now appears to confirm those concerns.