# Leaving USA for someplace saner- easier said than done?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-usa-for-someplace-saner-easier-said-than-done/1009810>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 6, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-usa-for-someplace-saner-easier-said-than-done/1009810 "2024-11-06T20:05:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 255

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**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-usa-for-someplace-saner-easier-said-than-done/1009810/255 "2026-03-06T02:56:56Z")

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> [@Raza](#):
>
> Note to those with **Canadian** ancestors: inspired by my journey, a former coworker found that Canada is much more lenient; he found via a Canada law office that he qualifies with a great-grandparent

Good to hear. I had inferred this (citizenship not only through a parent who was the first generation born outside Canada, but also a grandparent as the first generation born outside Canada and with a parent as the second such generation) as a logical consequence of a recent change to law, but wasn’t able to find explicit conformation from available sources online.

For the record, we were discussing it in this thread:

> [@Canada legal geeks: impact of Bjorkquist decision on citizenship by descent for the second generation born outside Canada?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-legal-geeks-impact-of-bjorkquist-decision-on-citizenship-by-descent-for-the-second-generation-born-outside-canada/996610/102):
>
> Schroedinger’s Canadian indeed. I’ve been struggling with the same problem since I started looking into Canada’s citizenship laws as a result of this thread: If generation 2 born abroad is now recognized as Canadian all along, then doesn’t that mean generation 3 (or 4 or 5?) must likewise be considered Canadian all along, provided they were born prior to December 15, 2025? For the record, I would be generation 3. Point 5 will apply going forward, post-December 15, 2025, but from what I am …

I have a Canadian great-grandparent as well and alerted an aunt who is big on genealogy to this change in law to see if she might have certain records (birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc) as I was mulling trying to prove up my (possible) citizenship and file an application. The down side is that she does not have all the necessary documenta. The upside, though, is she has the ability and interest to get them and is in fact planning to apply for proof of Canadian citizenship herself through the same ancestor (her grandparent). If it works, then I would only need to take what she used, less her own birth certificate, and add in my father’s birth certificate and my own.

And to think, I once mocked Canada’s national anthem (on the snopes board, way way back).

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