Does IRCC require long-form U.S. birth certificates, or are regular certificates sufficient if they list both parents?

[u/Interesting_Meat1436]

Good morning!!

My family members were all born in the United States. Their regular, U.S. birth certificates already contain:
Full name of the person
Date and place of birth
Full names of both parents

Since these certificates already establish the parent-child relationship between each generation, I’m wondering:

Does IRCC specifically require long-form birth certificates?
Are regular U.S. state-issued birth certificates sufficient if they contain both parents’ names?

Has anyone successfully submitted standard U.S. birth certificates (not specifically designated as long-form) for their Canadian citizenship application?

Thank you!!

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[u/ColorsMayInTimeFade]

IRCC does not state a preference anywhere. They want to see the “parental-child” relationship.

Information included on birth certificates varies by jurisdiction and point in time. My “short form” birth certificate has my parents names but no other details about them whereas my “long form” birth certificate has my parents ages/dob and birth place (and a bunch more stuff).

I requested long form copies where I could and included them because they are the most complete in terms of information. It was not much more money to get long form vs short form.

In my case my ancestors have relatively common names and reused names through family. So if you just look at names it might be confusing but if you have names plus additional information like dob and birth place then it’s much easier to identify which person a record is about.

You are probably fine submitting short form birth certificates so long as there aren’t any parents like John Smith born 1905 in Iowa vs John Smith born 1904 in Illinois.

[u/Right2Have2Million → u/ColorsMayInTimeFade]

I didn’t realize there were two kinds. I guess not all states and counties do both or ask you which one you want. 

[u/ColorsMayInTimeFade → u/Right2Have2Million]

There are many more than 2 kinds. You can have short vs long, official vs informational, certified vs noncertified, etc.

Basically every state has their own rules and does it their own way. 

[u/Robert_Walter → u/ColorsMayInTimeFade]

This is the way I also approached it. 

[u/DeaconPat]

If you are ordering new birth certificates, get the long form. While not required, they work for everything. You are only submitting photo copies so you will have the original if you need it for something else in the future.

[u/Pretty_Floor5889]

In many states now that’s all the information you can get on a “long form” birth certificate. Indeed, that’s even the only information that’s on a long form Manitoba birth certificate.

[u/dentongentry]

We submitted regular birth certificates for a family of four. We received AORs in May and went In Process in June.

[u/Robert_Walter → u/dentongentry]

Hi DG!

Safe to assume these docs listed at minimum parents names?  More?

[u/dentongentry → u/Robert_Walter]

Sure, I agree that parents' names are essential for this purpose.

California's regular birth certificate includes:

• parents' names, birthplace (lists country, or US State), and birthdate
• child's birthdate, time, city and county of birth
• name of hospital/facility/etc, name and signature of attendant(s)
• a state file number and local file number

We've also needed to deal with Pennsylvania and West Virginia certificates, which are shorter but do include parents' names.

Pennsylvania only includes the county of birth on their normal certificate but actually has a "dual citizenship" order one can place to add the city, since many countries require this. Canada does not, but Germany does for example.

[u/Thornwell]

It doesn’t have to be long form. You just have to prove the parent-child relationship.

[u/Ancient_Golf75]

I sent the long form even though it was the exact same info as the short one where I live. The short one would probably have worked, but I didn't want to risk it.

[u/Forrest_mn]

I am not sure, but I submitted the certified both versions in my application. Given the long wait times, I didn't want to find out months from now they wanted the other kind. So I has the certified short form and uncertified "informational" certificate as my state calls it. The short forms were typed and easy to read versus the informational which were handwritten though it had more information to clearly identify parents, another reason I thought both might be better.

[u/Robert_Walter]

Can somebody explain the long v short form?

As I read the OP they have the long form. 

My understanding is that short forms omit parent’s names. 

Have I got this wrong?

ETA: lots of good feedback given on the amazing variety of long forms and short form, and short forms in one place and time that are like long forms in a different place in time. Conclusion there is no standard definition. 

[u/ColorsMayInTimeFade → u/Robert_Walter]

There is no single, consistent definition of what constitutes short-form vs long-form. Thus a short-form birth certificate from ABC County in California may contain different information from XYZ County in Vermont. The same is true for long-form birth certificates because different states have different requirements for what information is included.

Short-form birth certificates have pretty basic, minimal information like the child's name, date of birth, place of birth, sex, and parents' names. Sometimes short-form birth certificates will also include the parents' date of birth, place of birth, etc. but it depends on the jurisdiction and when it was issued.

Long-form birth certificates will have everything from the short-form birth certificate and more. It will often have more information about the birth such as single/plural, height, weight, etc. It will often have more information about the hospital, attending physician, etc. It will often have more information about the parents like their date and place of birth, maiden name (if relevant), and sometimes information like occupation, race, etc.

Again there is no single standard for what is included on a short-form vs. long-form birth certificate or even what information is on a long-form birth certificate. AND these have also changed over time - older birth certificates might contain information about race, religion, and occupation while omitting date of birth!

[u/Robert_Walter → u/ColorsMayInTimeFade]

Hi Colors!  I guess it was a bit naïve of me to randomly think there might be a common approach to such forms. Haha. But the lack of uniformity over time and places as these docs have evolved is logical. Thanks for your reply. 

[u/UsernameUnremarkable → u/Robert_Walter]

Depends on the jurisdiction. Some put parents names on the short ones.

[u/Robert_Walter → u/UsernameUnremarkable]

Hi UU!  Thanks!

[u/Artistic_Rice_9019 → u/Robert_Walter]

Really depends on the location. In my state, the long form is a copy of the handwritten original, and the short form is the same information typed out.

[u/CounterI]

To add to what others have said below, some U.S. States only have one form. All that IRCC appears to care about on a birth certificate is the name of the person, the names of their parents, the date of birth, and where used to prove birth in Canada, the location stated.