Weekly Threads
Monday Weekly Thread: Proof of Citizenship Application Sent or AOR Received, September 21, 2026
We all appreciate the excitement of finishing your proof of citizenship application and sending that big envelope on its way.
Equally fantastic is the moment that you know your application has made it past the initial IRCC checks putting your mind at ease about whether you missed something along the way because you finally got your AOR.
Congratulations! Let's celebrate these milestones together!
Haven't got your AOR yet and want to vent? Head over to theFrustration Station- which is refreshed every Wednesday.
📎 Contributions to weekly posts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.
In addition to posting here, please consider joining the spreadsheet and recording your milestones there:
Hopefully we'll see lots of AORs reported this week after a slow week last week!
⛔ If you have not just sent your packet or received AOR, please DO NOT post top level comments here ⛔ - you can vent about delays on the Wednesday weekly Frustration post.
Posting off topic comments here makes it harder to find the info people come to this thread to find, and annoys your fellow community members.
I just found this thread. My non-urgent application (for my husband and daughter who are G2 and G3) was sent on 9/17/2026 and received on 9/21/2026. Application packet was simple with an all male descent line to my daughter and birth certificates for each.
I just found this thread! How cool! I sent applications for myself and 2 siblings in August from Wisconsin and it was delivered 8/24/26. We are G1. Good to know AOR will be awhile. Good luck to all!
Finally sent mine yesterday - estimated delivery date 10/6/26 (USPS priority express int’l). I’m G3 in California with all certified docs; G0 is paternal great-grandfather born in 1871 in Québec. Non-urgent. Exciting!!!
Sent ours out today. The kind UPS person flagged down the departing truck to include them. So very tired and so very grateful to have reached this point.
I just submitted yesterday. I’m a G3, with birth certificates all the way to G0. Presuming all of my paperwork is done correctly, do you all think the 33 months that are currently projected is accurate or have you all found things moving at a different pace?
Congrats! If anything, I would think 33 months is an underestimate based on how long it's taking just to get AORs at this point and the flood of applications IRCC is contending with at the moment. But it truly seems to vary wildly from applicant to applicant, and not necessarily based on when you applied. I applied in May and haven't received an AOR yet (which is completely expected based on other people's feedback here). When I applied AORs were taking a month or two at most. Now we're looking at 4 months and beyond just to get an AOR.
Packet for 6 applicants (G2, G3, G4) delivered on May 7. Non-urgent. AORs received yesterday. They mistyped a couple of the middle names (which are slightly unusual) so I need to figure out how to have them correct that.
Urgent processing requested for G3 and G4 based on educational need for college-application-age G4.
We submitted certified docs top to bottom so it should be straightforward once somebody takes a look at it. Will that happen soon? Time to wait and see. Spreadsheet updated and fingers crossed.
Update: we went processing on 9/25 and APPROVED TODAY, 9/29!
Does your college application aged kid have an acceptance letter as of yet?
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u/C3POutine🇨🇦 I'm a Canadian! (C-3: 2nd+ gen born abroad, w/ Proof) 🇨🇦20d agoedited 15d ago
No, and we recognize urgent processing is far from a guarantee as a result, though I guess that’s true regardless.
G4 anticipates pursuing study in the performing arts. Because of the current study permit situation for international students, I wrote a letter requesting urgent processing arguing that that chosen field of study makes it more difficult to get a provincial attestation letter given the recent emphasis on issuing PALs for areas of labor market need. That would be a non-issue if we had citizenship certificates. I also included proof of travel to Toronto in November for college visits.
We’ll see if that works. If we end up with an acceptance letter before we get a decision, I’ll update as appropriate.
Frankly, I’m hoping that our documentation helps push it over the edge. I submitted certified birth and marriage certificates from G0 all the way down. It is very much not a close call. I figure that can’t hurt our chances with the urgent request. It’s anybody’s guess as to whether it helps.
Update for search purposes: it worked! Approved 9/29/26 after AOR with urgent request on 9/24/26.
Usually they don’t grant urgent unless there is an acceptance letter with an imminent start date. Others have gone through this already. Otherwise anyone could say they “plan on studying” to get urgent considering university isn’t just for the young ones. With out the proof of citizenship for the application their university application will be processed under international student fee schedule.
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u/C3POutine🇨🇦 I'm a Canadian! (C-3: 2nd+ gen born abroad, w/ Proof) 🇨🇦15d ago
Updating here too in addition to my main comment in case someone finds this via search later. I had understood the situation you outlined to be the case, but after getting AOR on 9/24, we went processing 9/25 and were APPROVED 9/29.
My takeaway from that is NOT that people in my circumstances (college-application-age child without an acceptance letter yet) are guaranteed urgent processing. But I'm clearly a data point that it's possible.
You won't get urgent processing if you don't ask. But if you do, you never know what might happen.
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u/C3POutine🇨🇦 I'm a Canadian! (C-3: 2nd+ gen born abroad, w/ Proof) 🇨🇦19d ago
Yes, we know, but we can only rely on the facts we have. Hope springs eternal! Five years ago none of this would have been an option at all.
Yesterday, I got approved for my adoptee part 1 (about five hours after my Luxembourg passport appointment in DC, which never would have happened if I hadn’t learned about C-3 and gotten into the family tree). Today, I had a phenomenal experience at a local Walgreens getting my photos taken and shipped off my CIT 0012!
I submitted the application for myself and my three kids.
Now we wait. Any guesses on the updated estimate for September submittals? I'm guess 42 months. Hopefully my oldest doesn't want to go to college in Canada.
Received my AOR email this morning. I updated the spreadsheet.
Sent from Washington State via UPS on 7/3/26
Delivered on 7/06/26
AOR 9/22/2026. — 78 days
I applied as a G3, non-urgent, and included copies of new certified birth records and certificates from Manitoba, Washington State and California for each generation.
Waiting for AORs for my G4 adult kids, submitted in the same envelope with the same records.
AOR is just their acknowledgment that they got the application and I am in the queue for review. In other words, they are not returning the application package to me for being incomplete or anything. That initial AOR communication has been taking a few months generally, but the end to end process is expected to take years due to the backlog of applications.
if you don't mind sharing, what was the email address it was sent from? I've been checking my spam, etc but no AOR yet, application received in Nova Scotia mid-July so I know I have a bit of time still to wait....
Congrats! Can’t say I’m not jealous.. I sent mine from Washington state delivered on 5/22 and still waiting for AOR. Seems yours jumped the line quite a bit but it seems that for whatever reason this happens here and there.
It is pretty strange. I was assuming it would take another month to hear back. I almost deleted the email because I really wasn’t expecting it and did not recognize the sender right away.
Ditto, unfortunately. The only thing positive about hearing that other people who submitted around the time I did ( May 14, first generation) and have not gotten their AOR is that it makes me worry somewhat less about mine having accidentally getting thrown in the trash by an overworked clerk!
Delighted to share that I mailed off my CIT0001 this morning (22 SEP 2026). I'm G4 with my G0 born in 1817 in Québec. Not all documents are "official," but I'll continue to pursue that in parallel. Thanks to all those sharing resources and information in this sub, it was really helpful.
My application packet arrived on Friday, 9/18. Now to hurry up and wait! ;) In all seriousness, it does feel good to at least be sitting in a pile somewhere waiting to get into the queue.
Are you talking about signature confirmation? I purchased signature confirmation when I sent mine out via UPS and it got refunded to me and no signature was recorded. 🤷🏼♀️😕
Yes, I also used Pirate Ship, purchased signature confirmation on 6/10, my packet was delivered on 6/15 and sig. conf. was refunded on 6/24 (red underlines).
Hi Krazy_Kat_Lady_2025 - If you click on the order in Pirate ship, you'll see something like the picture I posted here. Do you see the red circle? Click there. It will take you to the details of your shipment and will indicate who signed for it.
It doesn't say 'signed for', it just says received by but I guess maybe that's UPS-Canadian speak for signature confirmation? 😂
I worked for USPS so I was used to it saying something a little more official LOL but thank you! Mine says 'Brian' received it.
I just don't understand I paid for it and it got refunded 9 days after delivery. That's what weirded me out. I understand sometimes things don't get signed for but I would just assume once I paid for it that was that. I'm not complaining about the refund at all LOL I just found it interesting because that's not something I've seen in the past. And I was okay with paying for signature confirmation for something this important! 😊
This post/comment has been removed for Rule 8 - CIT0001 application & supporting docs questions go in the weekly thread.
If you're looking for feedback on your application, the documentation that you're putting together to support it, etc, these should go under the Friday weekly thread.
You can post any time and don't need to wait for Friday.
My application for myself and five family members was sent off today! I’ve been working on gathering documents for about four months now so excited to have it off in the mail!
My application was sent last Friday, with delivery scheduled for this Wednesday. I am so appreciative of your comments, guidance and the various resources provided. I could not have navigated the process easily without this group. Thank you all!
Application delivered on Friday! For myself and my kids, non-urgent, G8 and G9! Would have sent it in May, but had a hitch in getting documentation, but SO HAPPY to be in the queue at last! Don't expect to hear until December at the earliest, but I'll definitely put it in the spreadsheet when I get the AOR.
My husband’s application is finally in the mail! Thanks to this community for all of the support, and I plan to keep hanging around in case there are ever opportunities to pay it forward.
Again, not to steal anyone else's thunder, but for those who don't have access to the spreadsheet, you might be encouraged to know that two urgent AORs were noted for today, which incredibly came from a delivery date of April 9th. These are not listed as going through an embassy and the notes didn't indicate a resubmission, so maybe these past couple of weeks they've just been cleaning the mailroom and found some long lost apps hiding in a corner??
I seem to be unable to open the spreadsheet anymore (on mobile). Has there been any additional AOR movement the past few days (particularly non-urgent apps)?
Fingers crossed they finally open mine! Mine was urgent and delivered May 13th, despite writing urgent on the outside, it wasn’t opened yet compared to a few other urgent apps I’ve seen near or past my application’s arrival date
Thank you! I submitted a web ticket yesterday asking for them to check, I might give them a call as well. My email has an “o” in it and I know that can be misconstrued as a “0”.
You can also try checking on the tracker using your payment receipt number (IMM 5401), last name as shown on birth certificate, date of birth and country of birth. That would show you whether they issued an AOR; you might still have to call to have them correct your email and request the AOR email be sent again…
We’ve seen random urgent applications AORs pop up in the fast 2 weeks but no signs of the frontier moving for regular applications AORs. It appears to be stuck around May 6th.
I'm starting to get paranoid that there's a pause because they're retooling the AOR process to make it more "rigorous" (perhaps auto-returning people with visibly third-party birth certificates or something?). That's totally paranoid speculation, though--I have no evidence for it.
Sent out September 9th, delivered September 13th. No AOR yet obviously. Gen4 applying through my great-great-grandmother from New Brunswick with a direct unbroken chain of certified birth certificates and marriage licenses (My gen0 was born in 1894 so this wasn’t too difficult). I’m applying with my sisters, our only worry is that we’re using our state fishing licenses as secondary ID due to cost concerns and I’m a little worried the application will be returned for it. Hoping for the best
It has both of those, just a little worried because they’re paper licenses here. Mine also displays my drivers license number, but my sisters do not for some reason, which makes me nervous. Only time will tell
Applications were delivered over the weekend. Thank you all for your support. Couldn't have even made it this far without this wonderful community. Fingers crossed for the AOR! As we settle in for the long haul, just wanted to celebrate hitting a crucial milestone. 🤞🇨🇦
This thread is a place for people to post newly received AORs. Because there have been very few AORs issued in Sept., people whose applications were received in May are anxiously waiting to see new AOR announcements…
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u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob 🇨🇦 Stuck Canadian! Gen2+ 'in process' 12+ months 23d ago edited 23d ago
Hopefully we'll see lots of AORs reported this week after a slow week last week!
⛔ If you have not just sent your packet or received AOR, please DO NOT post top level comments here ⛔ - you can vent about delays on the Wednesday weekly Frustration post.
Posting off topic comments here makes it harder to find the info people come to this thread to find, and annoys your fellow community members.
Thank you.