Forebear guide
Citizenship by Descent Checker
A citizenship-by-descent checker should not ask only for your grandparent's country and give a yes or no answer. Real eligibility depends on dates, generations, marital links, naturalisation timing, and country-specific exceptions.
Forebear turns a family tree into a structured first pass: which ancestors may matter, which countries are worth investigating, and which missing facts must be proven before a claim is reliable.
What the checker looks for
The checker reads the structure of your family tree and compares each ancestor line against known descent and restoration pathways. It is designed to surface possibilities and blockers early, not to promise a passport.
- Birth countries and dates across each generation.
- Parent-child links that form a potential citizenship chain.
- Migration and naturalisation events that may break transmission.
- Countries where restoration or declaration routes may apply.
Why a GEDCOM file helps
GEDCOM files exported from Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Gramps, RootsMagic, and other genealogy tools already contain the structure a citizenship review needs: people, relationships, places, and dates. A checker can inspect more lines faster from a GEDCOM file than from a manual form.
| Input | What it helps check |
|---|---|
| Names | Record matching and identity continuity |
| Birth dates | Generation limits, cutoff rules, and citizenship transmission timing |
| Places | Countries with possible descent, restoration, or passport routes |
| Family links | Whether the claim runs through a parent, grandparent, or earlier ancestor |
| Naturalisation events | Whether citizenship may have been lost before transmission |
What a result can and cannot tell you
A checker can identify likely pathways and weak points. It cannot replace official review, guarantee approval, or solve missing records. The useful output is a prioritized map: which lines to research first, which countries are plausible, and which documents are needed next.
Questions people ask
Do I need a complete family tree?
No, but the result is only as strong as the data provided. Missing birth dates, places, or parent-child links can hide eligibility or create false leads.
Can the checker handle multiple countries?
Yes. The point is to compare every relevant ancestor line against multiple citizenship-by-descent routes rather than forcing you to research one country at a time.
Will the checker store my family tree?
Forebear should treat family-tree data as sensitive. Upload and account flows need clear privacy handling, and users should avoid uploading data they are not comfortable processing for eligibility review.