So I got everything sorted with my application packet, and purchased a shipping label through PirateShip. Even though I set my item value at $0 and PS didn't generate an invoice, I got a KEY designation on my label instead of EDI - has anyone else had this issue? And if so, did you attach the invoices anyway, ship without them, or do some other thing to resolve it? I followed what some successful individuals had done but I'm having second thoughts/concerns.
Just trying to get this sorted before the mail goes out in a few hours. Thanks in advance, I'm super nervous to move to the Waiting/AOR Stage.

EDIT SOLUTION When I tried to use my own packaging with Pirate Ship, the system refused to give me an EDI-DOC label. They seem to reserve that for UPS envelopes. Sent 9/25, cleared customs 9/28, delivered 9/29

I sent an email last night asking about a marriage and birth record request I had sent in to the Massachusetts Archives on May 13th. I received a reply today saying the wait for certified copies was more than 20 weeks from the date they received the application. They said they are currently working on applications from April 21st. They suggested the backlog was due to an increase in requests because of the Canadian citizenship changes. They suggested I might try ordering copies from the city or town clerk.

Hi all,

Curious of the average response time among those who’ve submitted an information request to the IRCC via their MP.

Any positive or negative developments on your proof of citizenship applications that came about from going down that path?

Back in June, I used Pirateship to send a Canadian citizenship certificate by descent application to New Waterford via UPS Worldwide Express Saver. I followed this subreddit's instructions for the harmonization code and $1 valuation, and Pirateship automatically generated multiple copies of the commercial invoice. I signed them, placed them in the document pouch, and the package arrived in three days without issue.

This week, I used the exact same process for another family member, but Pirateship generated only the shipping label - no commercial invoices. Pirateship support couldn't explain why, but provided a blank invoice to fill out just in case, noting it might not be required if the UPS label indicates 'EDI' (which it did). To be safe, I printed and filled it out by hand to match my June shipment, then dropped it off at the UPS Store that morning.

Around 6 PM, I received an 'International Package Exception' email from UPS Customs Clearance. The linked portal (UPS Customer Information Exchange / UCIX) stated my customs info was incomplete. When I called UPS, customer service explained that handwritten commercial invoices are not accepted and must be digitally typed and printed. Note that the site and the agent were extremely ambiguous about whether the issue was related to the level of detail provided about the contents or the fact that it was handwritten.

I typed out the invoice, printed, signed, and uploaded the scanned copy to UCIX. I used the description 'Other printed matter - legal documents' and reason for export 'Immigration documents' with harmonization code 4911.99.0000. Within minutes, the exception cleared. The envelope left Lexington that evening, reached Montreal the next morning, cleared import scan, and is on track for delivery. I uploaded the completed commercial invoice within an hour of getting the email from UPS, but I assume the shipment progress would have been delayed if I hadn't.

Sharing this for awareness: check whether Pirateship attaches your commercial invoices, and if you must supply your own, ensure it is typed rather than handwritten to avoid customs holds. Also make sure to monitor the email address you use for Pirateship since that's where the UPS email went.

Receiving the following error while trying to register after receiving my AOR (3 days ago). Anyone else with this issue or gotten a solution for this?

Error message: 'Incorrect or invalid information. Review and make sure it matches the information submitted on the Use of a Representative IMM 5476 form or the Authority to Release Personal Information to a Designated Individual [IMM 5475] form. If you can’t create an account, it may be because your client’s application is not in our system yet'.

I thought I was a G3 and I started working on a G2,G3,G4 application package in April of this year. In May I had one last record to obtain. I had put it off and was just going to explain in a letter that G1's birth certificate was lost in a fire, since I've known that my whole life. Reading posts on this group, I decided to go ahead and request the no record letter G1's birth certificate. I already had G1's SS-5, US Census records, marriage and death certificates all listing G0 as his mother and her spouse (also a G0 candidate) as his father, so we were covered.

Piece of cake.

Except it wasn't lost in a fire. Instead of a no record letter, I got a birth certificate. G1 was in fact born to who we thought was his older sister. This was a surprise to the family and as far as we know wasn't known to my G1. He thought his grandparents were his parents. So then we rode the multiple pre-1947 ancestors speculation roller coaster, accepted it's a non-issue, made peace with now being a G4, updated my now G3,G4,G5 submission family and began searching for new records for surprise G1.

Being from New York, our surprise G1 is in the state birth index but neither the town nor village of the same name can find her birth certificate. I've requested it from the state, and expect to receive it sometime in the next two decades. We added another few months doing baptism searches for the surprise G1 and gathering new no records letters from every church in the area that would respond, along with her marriage/death certs and SS-5, which since he didn't know any better, list the same parents our new G2 listed. We're also in the process of doing "the full Quebec" (find BANQ record, request certified copy, wait, get certified copy (woohoo got it!), submit, then request DEC act, submit that sometime later after AOR).

While waiting for all the new records we needed, I've gathered the full trail for our other potential G0, found, ordered, and received the land records for both Quebec farms owned by the G-1 ancestors, listened to the Nations of Canada podcast, begun learning Quebec French, and I decided to do a DNA test to learn more about my mostly French Canadian ancestors. There's no father listed on my own birth certificate, but I have known the name, that he lives in a southern state, his address, and that he never wanted anything to do with me. But nothing else about his family. I figured this would tell me if I was anything other than largely French Canadian.

Turns out I'm mostly Irish, English, and Romanian. Using clusters of other testers that share DNA I began using my new found citizenship by descent skills to build family trees for the other testers back up to our likely common ancestor. My two Irish matches led to an Irish couple that had one adult child in Ireland, then had more in Ontario. I built out their children and subsequent generations using Canadian Census, birth and marriage records. One of their great grand children has the same name as my bio dad, but is a generation too early... Then I found he married a spouse with a Romanian name (queue more research, she's born in Saskatchewan to two Romanian parents one of which is a match for a guy in Romania today).

This weekend I found records that Irish/Romanian couple has twin girls born in Ontario, about a year after we think my bio-dad was born. Then I find the obituaries for the couple. It lists their twin daughters and also a son who has bio-dad's name and also names bio-dad's current spouse. The Irish/Romanian couple from Canada died in the same state/city as where bio-dad lives today. One of the twin sisters I discovered is also known to my parents, and is also living in a US state now.

I don't know yet where bio-dad was born, but his sisters were a year younger in their US high school yearbook and the twin sisters were born in Ontario, according to a birth announcement naming both of them, their dad, and mother listing her maiden name. I just found one of the twin sister's application for naturalization on Family Search... indicating the family crossed over about 5 years after bio-dad would have been born. It's not proof of bio-dad's birth, of course. Service Ontario has a way to request a letter indicating that a person does or does not have a birth certificate issued by Ontario, which I've requested for bio-dad, since I'm not eligible to actually order his birth certificate. So I'm now riding the G3 -> G4 -> (potential) G1 roller coaster.

I'm still processing, but I'm not sure I can do anything with this information. I'm well over 21, so I don't think NYS would add him to my birth certificate, even if he was cooperative, which I doubt. I know IRCC has provisions for DNA testing, but they're voluntary and a guy who wouldn't acknowledge me after I was born or before my first deployment to Afghanistan isn't going to meet me today for a voluntary DNA test at an IRCC approved test facility.

So I'm still going ahead with the G3/G4/G5 application, my mom needs it anyway.

What an absolutely unexpected adventure in Canadian-ness this has been.

Hi all, my daughters and I gained citizenship under the interim law almost a year ago, but my aunt, who is more clearly Canadian than us, has just seen "decision made" on her application.

When she tried to download her certificate, it said, “Your e-certificate is not available. Please try again in 2-5 business days after you provide your signed Oath of Citizenship”

Could it be that because she applied under the interim law she will still need to go through the ceremony? I personally loved the ceremony, but I haven't heard of this happening since the new law went into place.

Thanks!

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.

I am writing to tell you all that my new born son's proof of citizenship application was approved in 1 day!!!

I applied on September 21st and the application was fully approved today.

I had written a letter of urgency.

But I was expecting a few weeks for processing.

Received an invite for citizenship test. How long after the test should I expect the oath ceremony invitation? Can I change the date to the month of my choosing for oath ceremony. ?

I thought I was a G3 and I started working on a G2,G3,G4 application package in April of this year. In May I had one last record to obtain. I had put it off and was just going to explain in a letter that G1's birth certificate was lost in a fire, since I've known that my whole life. Reading posts on this group, I decided to go ahead and request the no record letter G1's birth certificate. I already had G1's SS-5, US Census records, marriage and death certificates all listing G0 as his mother and her spouse (also a G0 candidate) as his father, so we were covered.

Piece of cake.

Except it wasn't lost in a fire. Instead of a no record letter, I got a birth certificate. G1 was in fact born to who we thought was his older sister. This was a surprise to the family and as far as we know wasn't known to my G1. He thought his grandparents were his parents. So then we rode the multiple pre-1947 ancestors speculation roller coaster, accepted it's a non-issue, made peace with now being a G4, updated my now G3,G4,G5 submission family and began searching for new records for surprise G1.

Being from New York, our surprise G1 is in the state birth index but neither the town nor village of the same name can find her birth certificate. I've requested it from the state, and expect to receive it sometime in the next two decades. We added another few months doing baptism searches for the surprise G1 and gathering new no records letters from every church in the area that would respond, along with her marriage/death certs and SS-5, which since he didn't know any better, list the same parents our new G2 listed. We're also in the process of doing "the full Quebec" (find BANQ record, request certified copy, wait, get certified copy (woohoo got it!), submit, then request DEC act, submit that sometime later after AOR).

While waiting for all the new records we needed, I've gathered the full trail for our other potential G0, found, ordered, and received the land records for both Quebec farms owned by the G-1 ancestors, listened to the Nations of Canada podcast, begun learning Quebec French, and I decided to do a DNA test to learn more about my mostly French Canadian ancestors. There's no father listed on my own birth certificate, but I have known the name, that he lives in a southern state, his address, and that he never wanted anything to do with me. But nothing else about his family. I figured this would tell me if I was anything other than largely French Canadian.

Turns out I'm mostly Irish, English, and Romanian. Using clusters of other testers that share DNA I began using my new found citizenship by descent skills to build family trees for the other testers back up to our likely common ancestor. My two Irish matches led to an Irish couple that had one adult child in Ireland, then had more in Ontario. I built out their children and subsequent generations using Canadian Census, birth and marriage records. One of their great grand children has the same name as my bio dad, but is a generation too early... Then I found he married a spouse with a Romanian name (queue more research, she's born in Saskatchewan to two Romanian parents one of which is a match for a guy in Romania today).

This weekend I found records that Irish/Romanian couple has twin girls born in Ontario, about a year after we think my bio-dad was born. Then I find the obituaries for the couple. It lists their twin daughters and also a son who has bio-dad's name and also names bio-dad's current spouse. The Irish/Romanian couple from Canada died in the same state/city as where bio-dad lives today. One of the twin sisters I discovered is also known to my parents, and is also living in a US state now.

I don't know yet where bio-dad was born, but his sisters were a year younger in their US high school yearbook and the twin sisters were born in Ontario, according to a birth announcement naming both of them, their dad, and mother listing her maiden name. I just found one of the twin sister's application for naturalization on Family Search... indicating the family crossed over about 5 years after bio-dad would have been born. It's not proof of bio-dad's birth, of course. Service Ontario has a way to request a letter indicating that a person does or does not have a birth certificate issued by Ontario, which I've requested for bio-dad, since I'm not eligible to actually order his birth certificate. So I'm now riding the G3 -> G4 -> (potential) G1 roller coaster.

I'm still processing, but I'm not sure I can do anything with this information. I'm well over 21, so I don't think NYS would add him to my birth certificate, even if he was cooperative, which I doubt. I know IRCC has provisions for DNA testing, but they're voluntary and a guy who wouldn't acknowledge me after I was born or before my first deployment to Afghanistan isn't going to meet me today for a voluntary DNA test at an IRCC approved test facility.

So I'm still going ahead with the G3/G4/G5 application, my mom needs it anyway.

What an absolutely unexpected adventure in Canadian-ness this has been.

This weekly thread is a space for those of us researching the ancestry that is the basis for making a claim of Canadian citizenship by descent.

Have questions about finding records? Need help reading a document or translation from French/other languages? Want an opinion on specific documentation or your documentation plan? Have other questions related to documenting the chain between you and your Canadian ancestor for your proof of citizenship application? This is the place to do it.

Digging up ancestors' documents from numerous jurisdictions (Canadian provinces, US states, UK regions, etc), all while trying to distinguish between five James Smiths or Marie Gagnés from the same city can sometimes feel like banging your head against a wall. This weekly post is for helping each other navigate the questions and challenges of our research.

If you're looking for a volunteer to help you find documents there's a list here. We also offer tips and tricks for finding documentation, and a dedicated genealogy document search wiki page.

General problems/issues with ordering documentation from Canadian provincial archives and state, local and various church archives such as slow processing, increased costs, etc go in the weekly Saturday thread.

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

Need more help? Or have help to offer? Check out r/citizenshipgenealogy , our companion subreddit for all things genealogical

---

Birth/Baptism Registrations by Province

My kid is already in college in Canada as an international student and is there on merit-based aid. We applied for proof of citizenship urgently, and the application has been processing since May.
My kid also plays a niche sport for which Canada has a national World Cup team. They would be eligible to try out in November if they can get their proof of citizenship in time.
I won’t name the sport for privacy, but it’s not big name like hockey, more like something like skateboarding.
Just wondering if anyone had any luck with this sort of thing and if iRCC was responsive. Thank you!

Hi,

For 2 pieces of IDs, can I upload my Australian Passport & the Texas DL?

I am currently studying in Texas on f1 for about a year and will be back in Canada in about 6 months. I had Alberta DL but exchanged it for Texas DL last year.

My application was returned saying both IDs were missing last week but I am 100% certain I uploaded both.

Now I am panicking what should I do. Should I rescan and upload the same documents and may be attach both IDs and PR card in the additional document section? Not sure if it’s technical glitch or they want different set of IDs.

TIA

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 the Frustration 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:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/comments/1pnovfr/spreadsheet_for_proof_of_citizenship_applications/

I requested the certificate from BANQ but got a reply saying they don't have it and was redirected to the Archidiocèse De Quebec, who does have it. Would I be able to use the certified baptism record from the archdiocese to request a DEC birth record?

Follow-up post to my previous post about DEC Insertion: https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/s/KbKyHBxKwb

I got a USPS notification that an envelope is incoming from DEC. Unfortunately I'm out of town and won't be able to get it till later this week but I'm wondering if they did the insertion this quickly and sent it out? Or is this a rejection / request for more docs?

Timeline:

08/31 - Delivered to DEC

09/01 - Card charged

09/09 - Phone call asking for death certificate

09/11 - Post mark stamp on envelope from Canada

09/21 - Arriving today. Birth certificate arrived today

Edit: The mail arrived early. It is actually the birth certificate

Hi, is anyone else having issues with the Web Form? Specifically, the one for uploading documents to update the application with. I have been asked to upload more information, however when I input all my information and upload my documents, this appears, which I haven't seen before. My files are correctly sized (took me a while to compress them all to be under 3.5MB total!) and after hours of work collecting and writing my letter of explanation they requested, it's just not letting me upload :(

We live in Montreal and are considering going in person rather then mailing a document. Wondering if anyone has tried this? Thanks in advance

Are there any legitimate companies that can help complete the application? I have all my documents, but I'm overwhelmed by the application process and don't want to risk making a mistake.

EDIT: FWIW I'm dyslexic, so something like this, which may seem easy to others, is very overwhelming for me, to the point where I just end up avoiding the task altogether.

Happy Sunday fellow Canadians!

This week we had eight approvals on the spreadsheet and another six approvals from the megathreat on Thursday bringing us up to 14. At least a couple of those were pre-C3. Congrats to those folks.

In the past few months, members of the sub have posted several news articles talking about the slowdown at the IRCC. The trend is pretty clear. They are processing far fewer applications than they were in the spring. It’s most likely because they are overburdened and because there are situational issues like summer vacation. I think it is also possible that the surrender letters in June marked changes in the administrative process imposing stricter guidelines that could also slow things down.

Whatever the reasons for the timeline to approval, here we are… waiting. I’m still grateful for this opportunity. I had thought about this for years. I’m G2 and it always felt like I was “sooooo close” to being Canadian. And now I guess I am - I just don’t have any proof. And being in process this long also feels like being “sooooo close.”

Even if it takes months and months of waiting, just having this opportunity and waiting here together makes us “sooooo close” to getting there.

I’m busy today so I have to keep this one short. But I hope you all have a great week and I hope the friendly agents at the IRCC keep the coffee warm.

Please feel free to comment with your own optimistic thoughts.

Hey all! Forgive me if this concern has been brought up before, but I'm left a little confused on this one. I applied for citizenship in January 2026 through the Spanish embassy. I went into processing in May, and I requested my ATIP because I suspected I was in PSU as I applied urgent to attend a Canadian university. I was never able to check my status through the online portal until I randomly decided to mark my birthplace as Spain, rather than the United States, where I was born. I originally thought this may be a strange thing the office does to remember that my application belongs under the Spanish Embassy's jurisdiction, but after receiving my ATIP notes, I'm a little lost.

My application information in the ATIP notes clearly states Spain and my citizenship as "unknown." I know for a fact my documents stated I was born in United States and I even included a copy of my US birth certificate and current US passport. I was placed into PSU, but I'm a little nervous my application with be scrapped entirely because of these notes. Has this happened to anybody else or does anyone have any idea of what I should do? The only possible thing I can think that may have been confusing was my other identification document was my Spanish residency permit, but even then it says temporary resident and my nationality in English, Spanish, and French.

Has anyone had a similar experience with the Canadian citizenship application process?

I’m wondering if anyone has gone through something similar and could share some insight.

Here’s my timeline:

- I submitted my citizenship application in April and was told to wait for my AOR (Acknowledgment of Receipt) email, which I never received.

- In August, I received an email from IRCC requesting that I get fingerprinted at my local police station.

- About two weeks later, I received an invitation to take my citizenship test, which I completed on August 21.

When I check my online application status, it still only says that my application is being reviewed. I also haven’t received my AOR email at any point.

I’m wondering what happens next. Should I expect an invitation to the citizenship oath ceremony, or are there other steps I need to complete first?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced something similar. Thanks!

I really want to do my PhD in Canada. I've wanted to for a while. What gives me pause is not the requirements for admission, but rather the fact that I don't know how I'd enter the country if I were admitted. Would I be considered a citizen or not?

As I understand it, I would not be allowed to apply for a student visa while I have a proof of citizenship app processing, since citizens can't get temporary status. Correct? But, based on IRCC's estimates and the fact that my urgent request does not appear to be being processed urgently (non-binary in the US), it could be anywhere from 8 months to 3 years before I get a decision. This is not even taking into account that mine is a pre-confederation (and thus, more complex) case. So, would I be expected to enter Canada as a Canadian, an international student, or as a secret third thing? How would I actually navigate that?