For most of the last century, an American passport was the one document nobody thought to back up. That assumption is falling apart.
The U.S. passport ranked first in the world on the Henley Passport Index in 2006. In 2026 it sits 10th, after briefly dropping out of the top 10 altogether in late 2025. At the same time, applications from Americans for second citizenships have climbed to levels never seen before.
The surprise is where the biggest door has opened. It is not a Caribbean island selling passports or a European country with a famous ancestry program. It is the country next door.
The Neighbor That Changed the Rules
On December 15, 2025, Canada rewrote its Citizenship Act and scrapped the rule that limited citizenship by descent to the first generation born abroad.
Under the new law, anyone born before that date who can trace an unbroken line back to a Canadian ancestor, however many generations back, may already be a Canadian citizen. That puts millions of Americans in the frame, particularly in border states and among families with French-Canadian roots.
There is no requirement to live in Canada. Technically these Americans are not applying for citizenship at all. They are applying for a certificate proving a citizenship they already hold, which then allows them to apply for a Canadian passport.
That passport currently ranks above the American one. On the Henley index, Canada placed 8th in January 2026 and the United States 10th.
The catch: the queue. Americans have responded in force, and the system is buckling. By June 2026 the processing queue had passed 82,000 applications and the official wait had risen to 15 months, up from 9 when the law changed. Later reports put the wait at more than two years.
The approvals so far are a trickle. Of nearly 29,000 citizenship certificates issued between January and May 2026, only 1,480 were granted under the new descent rules.
The paperwork trap. Every link in the chain needs proof: birth, marriage and sometimes death records for each generation back to the Canadian ancestor. For families whose records sit in a Quebec parish archive or were lost decades ago, this is where many claims stall. The longer an application waits, the longer the queue behind it grows.
The Irish Rush
Before Canada changed its law, Ireland was the route Americans reached for first, and it is still breaking records.
Applications from U.S. residents to Ireland’s Foreign Births Register reached 18,910 in 2025, up 63% from 11,601 the year before. A decade earlier, in 2015, just 2,064 Americans applied.
Many are not just collecting a document. Ireland’s statistics office recorded close to 10,000 Americans moving there in 2025, roughly double the usual annual figure. Immigration lawyers report that many are retirees applying for residency based on independent means.
The appeal is obvious: an Irish passport is an EU passport, carrying the right to live in any of the bloc’s member states.
The catch: the generational cut-off. The register covers people with an Irish-born grandparent, or a parent who was an Irish citizen when they were born. A great-grandparent from County Cork does not count. Most Irish Americans are too many generations removed to qualify, and the Department of Foreign Affairs estimates around 12 months to process a complete application.
The Door That Slammed Shut Mid-Application
Italy shows exactly how quickly an opportunity can vanish, and it should alarm anyone sitting on an ancestry claim they have been meaning to pursue.
Until March 2025, anyone who could trace descent from an Italian citizen after the country’s founding in 1861 could seek citizenship. Then an emergency government decree, later converted into law, capped automatic citizenship by descent at children and grandchildren.
It was pushed through without warning. Thousands of people who were already gathering documents or waiting for appointments found their claims blocked overnight.
Italy’s Constitutional Court upheld the two-generation limit in March 2026. In July, the country’s highest civil court did deliver a partial win for descendants, overturning a separate restriction that had blocked claims where an ancestor naturalized abroad while their child was still a minor. The two-generation cap has since been referred to the European Court of Justice, but for now it stands.
The lesson for every other route: eligibility rules are not guaranteed to survive until an application is filed.
Buying a Passport Has Become Riskier
For Americans with no useful ancestry, the fastest route has long been citizenship by investment, mostly through five Caribbean nations: St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Lucia.
Since July 2024, the five have agreed a minimum price of $200,000, roughly double the old entry point. Dominica’s single-applicant donation sits at that floor, while Antigua charges $230,000 for a family of up to four. Agent and legal fees come on top.
The catch: almost everything. The donation is non-refundable, and property bought to qualify is notoriously hard to resell. Citizenship can also be taken away: Dominica stripped 68 people of citizenship in 2024 over misrepresentation.
The programs themselves are under heavy pressure from both Washington and Brussels. St Kitts has introduced mandatory biometrics and announced a residency requirement for future applicants, and Dominica plans a minimum period of physical presence. A buyer committing six figures today could find the terms changed before the passport arrives.
The one European option, Malta’s citizenship program, was shut down after the EU’s top court ruled against it in 2025.
The Routes at a Glance
| Route | Who qualifies | Typical cost | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada by descent | Unbroken line to a Canadian ancestor, born before Dec 15, 2025 | Government fees and document costs | Long and growing backlog |
| Ireland by descent | Irish-born grandparent or Irish-citizen parent | Fees and documents | Strict generational limit |
| Italy by descent | Now limited to children and grandchildren | Fees, documents, often legal costs | Law still being fought in court |
| Caribbean investment | Anyone passing due diligence | From $200,000 plus fees | Non-refundable, rules shifting |
What a Second Passport Will Not Do
There is a persistent myth that a second citizenship offers an escape from the IRS. It does not. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, and a second passport changes nothing about that obligation.
A second passport also does not, by itself, provide healthcare. Living in Ireland or Canada means qualifying for and understanding their health systems, while Original Medicare generally does not cover care received outside the United States.
Before Starting an Application
- Map the family tree back at least four generations and identify every immigrant ancestor and the country they left.
- Order certified long-form birth, marriage and death records early, since archives are now flooded with requests.
- File as soon as the paperwork is complete, as backlogs are growing and rules can change without notice.
- Treat any agent promising a passport in two or three months with deep suspicion.
- Speak to a cross-border tax adviser before moving money or buying property abroad.
- Check whether a spouse and adult children also qualify, since one family’s research can serve the whole extended family.
A Note on the Figures
Processing times and investment prices are moving month by month, and every figure here should be checked against the relevant government site before an application is made. Canadian and Irish figures come from official government data reported in 2026. Caribbean investment costs reflect published 2026 price lists, which have changed repeatedly over the past two years.
Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs; Henley Passport Index 2026.
Amanda O’Brien is the creator and editor of The Boutique Adventurer. She has visited 80 countries and is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers as well as the IFTWTA. She is passionate about wine had has just completed Level 3 of the WSET. Born in Australia, she lives in London.