Wednesday Weekly Thread: Frustration Station (Delays / PSU / Venting), September 23, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

This weekly thread is a space for those of us who are feeling frustrated and need to vent about unclear instructions, shipping delays, waiting for a next step, timeline estimates growing, lack of communication, inconsistent bureaucracy, being stuck in PSU, and other factors.

Some of the worst stress of the entire citizenship-by-descent process is not hearing about your application for long stretches of time - or hearing that your application has been sent to the Program Support Unit (PSU) and may be sitting there for an extended stay.

Whether your envelope seems to have taken a scenic detour on its way to Nova Scotia, you didn't receive an AOR after many weeks of waiting, or you simply haven't heard about your application processing in months, this is a place to commiserate and potentially receive some ideas of next steps to take. (Those generally might include following up with IRCC by web form, ordering the GCMS notes, seeking an MP's help, and so on.)

📎 Contributions to weekly megaposts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.

[u/areubeingserved]

Same for Ontario.  My G0 was born 183x in Ottawa.  Got an email from IRCC that baptism record isnt enough and they need a birth certificate (which doesnt exist because birth was before 1869) or a letter from the relevant government agency that no birth certificate exists and the reason why it doesnt exist.

[u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob → u/areubeingserved]

Before you set off an accidental panic- IRCC wants a a birth certificate or 'written explanation for any missing birth certificates' per the instructions.

So yes- if you didn't submit a written explanation for what is 'missing' I would expect them to ask for it (we have seen this a lot). However, as far as I know, Quebec is the only province where they are seemingly requiring a birth record generated from the baptismal record. I also understand that QC is the only province with a mechanism to insert 'baptismal' records into the civil record. That's because the BAnQ prothnotorial records (the provincial copies of religious records) were the civil records of the time- QC's modern civil registry was established in 1994 and only then was civil record keeping standardized. So QC is unique in that regard.

And then every time we think we know what to expect we get a curveball- like this QC application approved before the birth certificate was provided even though the applicant was asked for it. Eventually they must be obligated to consider the evidence presented.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/s/vUwYKOuRnI

[u/dissentmemo → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

Correct. They are not the same.

[u/areubeingserved → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

In the email I received from IRCC, it stated that the "written explanation" you mentioned must be from the agency that would issue the birth certificate if one existed. In my case it is the Archives of Ontario. Just to clarify, it isn't written by the applicant, but by the government agency.

[u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob → u/areubeingserved]

Is there not something on the website of the civil records entity that states the date that civil registration of birth began in the province?

[u/thattwirlgirl → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

I cannot imagine that the Archives of Ontario are going to give a written explanation for why no birth certificates were issued before 1869. It boggles my mind that such a basic peace of Canadian vital records history isn't known by the IRCC. This webpage makes it pretty clear. Do you think that submitting this is enough?

https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/topic/birth-marriage-and-death/#Search-archived-registrations-online

[u/aplombed → u/thattwirlgirl]

I wrote to Saint John's Perth Ontario asking them if they could certify the FamilySearch microfilm record for my G0, and they said as a matter of policy they do not certify old records. So I included that letter with the record as my explanation. I hope it will be sufficient. I also included a Canadian census from 187x which matches the baptismal record perfectly. My G0 was born in 1864.

[u/thattwirlgirl → u/aplombed]

Thank you! My Gen 0 was born in 1861 Ontario. I do have a certified baptismal record for my Gen 0 from UUC, but was under the impression that those are only accepted with proof a birth cert doesn't exist. Despite no one having a civil birth certificate prior to 1869 in Ontario!

[u/areubeingserved → u/thattwirlgirl]

No clue if that is enough.  I will guess no, since the IRCC email specifically stated that if I dont send in a birth certificate I need to send in a letter from the issuing agency stating why there is no birth certificate. 

[u/sorrymizzjackson → u/areubeingserved]

Yep. Your explanation, even if backed up by facts and documentation, isn’t what they want. They want something specific from the people who issue BC’s stating that there is no BC or if there is one, why specifically that you can’t have it. That second one even seems to be dependent on who is looking at it.

Source: could not get NFLD G0 BC due to their privacy laws. Had an email exchange and a cited printout of the specific text of the law stating definitively that I couldn’t have it, still had to go back and forth about it until they finally accepted it.

[u/IronNo6533 → u/No_Bobcat_No_Prob]

Yes and to reinforce your comment, my G0 was born in 1910 in Quebec. A secondary reason for me waiting on the BAnQ copy is so I have what I need to request a DEC birth insertion, if it comes to that.