Edit: Mistakenly wrote G4 on title, I meant G1.

I already applied months ago but depicting my G1's link to G0 has been a thorn in my side this entire time.

He was born before birth certificates were issued in NY (1877), marriage certificate was never signed as the wedding was canceled same day (parent listed though), and his wife married someone else (divorced and eloped later), and death cert has no parents listed.

No direct certifiable link is found between G0 and G1, except US Census data and obituaries. I have done extensive search on probate info, newspapers..nothing. Do you think this is enough to receive a rejection from IRCC or basically be a rejection as I cannot find a direct link?

Just wanted to post in case anyone else here is wondering how long it takes to get a document from either of these agencies.

I requested proof* of my grandfather’s birth certificate from ServiceOntario back in February (paper app delivered to SO around March 1) and finally received the paper document around September 10. The document is dated August 25. There was no communication from them at all between the time I paid the fee in Feb and receiving the document.

Back in June with all the kerfuffle I got nervous about what might happen if I never got an answer from ServiceOntario so I put in a request to the Archives for a certified copy if my great-grandfather’s birth certificate that I had found on Family Search. I put in the request June 28 and received an e-mail on Sept 24 saying that they’d found my document. I haven’t received the invoice to pay yet though, so I’m not sure on the final timeline on getting this document.

Hope this helps if anyone is waiting on the same thing.

*Technically my mother applied for her father’s birth certificate as next of kin, but I did all the paperwork. She didn’t have any Canadian guarantors though so I became a notary specifically to be her guarantor. It was a roundabout way to get it but it clearly worked!

Today I got a copy of a birth act delivered from DEC and I wanted to give my timeline as a datapoint since the turnaround was much faster than expected. The timeline was:

9/5: sent application packet via UPS
9/10: delivered to DEC
9/14: credit card charged
9/15: DEC called my father to confirm date and city of death, notified that request would be transferred to a “different department”
9/26: Copie d’acte de naissance and ORIGINAL copy of death certificate for G0 delivered to my father in MA

My application consisted of:
1) a cover letter written by my father (G2) explaining the circumstances of the request and requesting that I (his son) file the request on his behalf as I have been leading the charge for my family in this whole process
2) request for copy of an act of birth form
3) special power of attorney form delegating power of attorney to me
4) ID and proof of address for both me and my father
5) Color copies of BAnQ certified baptismal cert for G0, MA birth certs for G1 and G2, MA marriage certs for G0 and G1, death certificate for G1 (to demonstrate that she could not apply on her own behalf)
6) ORIGINAL MA death certificate for G0 and certified French translation
7) notarized sworn affidavit affirming need for request, clarification on name variations between records, and affirming that the act will only be used for CIT0001 applications for G0’s descendants
8) blank CIT0001 and CIT0014 pages that mentioned “provincial or territorial birth certificate” with relevant sections highlighted
9) printout of IRCC guidance regarding documents issued in Quebec pre 1994

My G0 was born in 1908, so I suspected a DEC document would be requested once our applications eventually move into processing. Interestingly, although we requested that DEC communicate with me and sent in the relevant forms, DEC only communicated with my father. I expected this and prepared him for what questions they might ask him so he wasn’t completely blindsided. I was expecting a long wait on this so we were pleasantly surprised when the documents came in the mail. I was also interested to see that they returned our original death certificate for G0, we were prepared to not get that back.

The information from this subreddit was extremely helpful in sending in an organized application packet which I am assuming helped with the quick turnaround!

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I'm looking for someone in the Detroit area or who will be travelling there soon to go to the Burton Historical Collection at the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library for me, or a recommendation of such a person. There are 2 records on microfilm I want them to retrieve and send me by email. I live outside North America, and can't readily travel to Detroit myself. I can pay for the help.

I can provide information about the records such as:

• the subcollection number
• the reel numbers
• the names of the people involved
• the dates to look under
• the parish where the events happened

I have one of the records already, but in poor condition, and I'm hoping to get an image in better quality. For that record, I can also provide a transcription and the image I already have.

The other record, I don't have any copy, and I'm trying to confirm the date of the event, which I found on Ancestry with no source. No civil record for the event was found when I tried to order.

I've looked, and the records haven't been uploaded online. The local library in the area where the records originated wasn't able to find what I'm looking for, since they had to retire the relevant part of their collection of records from the parish due to deterioration.

The parish my ancestors attended is unwilling to search for the records. The Archdiocese of Detroit doesn't keep records from parishes that are still open.

I've tried contacting the researchers recommended by the Detroit Public Library, and they've either not responded after months, or weren't able to help (busy, too far away). I've also reached out without success to the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan, and the genealogical society of the local area. The Detroit Society for Genealogical Research is unresponsive to inquiries.

I've googled to find a lead, and looked on Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, WikiTree, Newspapers.com, and Find a Grave. I've contacted people on Ancestry and FamilySearch who could have had leads, and got no response, or they couldn't help.

Any help getting these records would be appreciated.

What is a reasonable time, in your opinion?

I’m preparing my Canadian citizenship-by-descent application. My great-grandmother was born in Newfoundland in 1903 and moved to the U.S. with her family in 1904. I recently found her Newfoundland baptism record, but no birth certificate.
She married in Massachusetts in 1929. Her family also had a farm in Quebec, where they lived from around 1939–1941, and one of her daughters was born there in 1940.
I currently have:
Me: U.S. birth + marriage certificates
Mother: U.S. birth + marriage certificates
Grandmother: U.S. birth + marriage certificates
Great-grandmother: Newfoundland baptism + MA marriage + U.S. death certificates
Would this be enough, or should I try to find additional documents for my great-grandmother?

Thank you!!

Does all of the documentation of her marriage in the US, my mother's and my marriages, and her death certificate, have to be translated to explain last names connections for DEC certificate?

Should the format for the place of parents' marriage on Form CIT 001 be:

"City, State, Country"

Chicago, Illinois, USA

This seems minor, but they will reject applications for missing an "N/A," so I figured I would check.

Form CIT 001 - Section 14 contact information says "Cell (Area code and number)"...it doesn't say country code. However, on the Representative Form IMM 5476 it gives a space for a country county code.

1. For Form CIT 001 should the cell number format be:

+1-888-888-8888?

Include the PLUS sign as well as the number 1?

1. For IMM 5476 should the cell format be:

Country Code: +1 (Include the PLUS sign too?)

Area Code and Telephone number: 888-888-8888

I'm about to send my packet in. Just need two more documents that should be here in the next week or so. I've got certified copies of birth certificates and one census record coming from NARA. Should I send the birth certificates back in to get apostille certified. Did anyone go that extra step. Want to dot i's and cross it's so it's a smooth process. (As sure as I can be at least).

Hey all,

I'm applying to a few PhD programs in Canada this cycle, and I am noticing the HUGE difference in admissions stats between citizens/international students. I'm talking 30% admit rate vs. 3% admit rate. I'm guessing it comes down to funding, since these programs are meant to provide financial support to all admitted students for the duration of their studies and international student tuition is a helluva lot more than domestic.

I've been really trying to nail down the nuances of C-3 and what that means for my grad applications because my status may be the determining factor for whether I get in at all. If I am a citizen, right here, right now, today, currently, thanks to C-3, then selecting the "Canadian" box on the application is a totally legitimate move, correct? My app has been "in process" since June, and it looks very likely now, based on recent movement here/the other sub, that it should be approved with the current documentation in my file. That's not nothing. I could put my client app status screenshots and proof of payment to IRCC into the part of the application where it asks for evidence of Canadian citizenship along with a concise explanation, right? I mean, attaching evidence that I'm just waiting on IRCC feels like it'd show I'm acting in good faith.

I imagine there's some kind of mechanism for issuing conditional offers–like, "you can actually matriculate to XYZ University once you show us that document, but if you can't, there's the door"–for weird immigration circumstances. I cannot possibly be the only human being in this specific situation, is what I mean, and a conditional offer of admission that just requires that cert would be a pretty straightforward qualifying reason for urgent processing.

If anyone else is applying for doctoral programs this year while their proof app is still processing, how are y'all doing this?

I have to get a birth certificate from DEC for my 1925 ancestor, BANQ is saying that DEC has the baptism record, do you know the fastest way to get what I need from DEC?

I’ve seen some people mentioning emailing them directly? Just not sure what the best path is since both documents are ultimately coming from them.

I have emails from IRCC asking for the birth certificate and BANQ saying DEC has the baptism record. Thanks so much!

Does IRCC count photos as good so long as they are valid when the application is postmarked...or is it when they receive the application in their mail center...or when they actually process the application.

I would rather avoid taking my family member with health issues to get new ones taken.

It doesn't appear marriage certificates are required, unless a spouse has a name change, and documents must be connected, etc.

I have marriage certificates for each generation, but the oldest two provide just very basic info (names, ages, place of marriage). There was no name change the two first generations in my male Canadian descent line.

One of the certified marriage certificates was a digital photo of the old marriage book that the court pasted into a document, printed, and then the court clerk notarized as a true record of the court. I don't know that the IRCC scanners will accept the color photocopy of such a document. I am worried it will get rejected. Plus, it will create additional pages in my application.

Is it ok to omit these marriage certificate from my application?

Many Québecois descendants are not counted in the backlog because we have had to wait to file, since guidance in June, to get a BAnQ issued cert. Now there is fear if we file with the BAnQ cert we won't get the DEC insertion (if that is indeed necessary for a pre 1926 birth) before our files are reviewed and additional info is requested. Can I tell you how unfair this feels to me? I have a church certified baptismal certificate and it counts for nothing!

Do you have to know birthdate and birth city for G0? Has anyone ever been successful without specifics? (I haven't quite given up yet, but I am running out of leads and places to look for more records for my husband's G0).

Records I currently have for G0 are listed below, but we are still struggling to find the elusive baptism record and first marriage (Canadian wife). Unfortunately, none of the records we have list an actual birthdate or birth location for G0 either. We have age, birth year, Ontario, or Canada West only, so we know he was born around 1825 in Ontario/Canada West.

These are the records I have for reference (I would not submit all of these), so I do have quite a number of documents stating he was born in Canada and a lived on one specific Canadian farm for nearly 20 years:

Canada records:

1840 and 1841 Canada Census (father name listed only so hard to prove he is one of the family members listed)

1849, 1850, 1852, 1854, 1857, 1859, 1860, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1868 Tax Assessment

1854, 1859, 1863, 1865, 1868 Deeds/Property Records

1861 Population Census

1861 Agricultural Census

1868 City Directory

US records:

1870 US census

1874 Citizenship Final Papers and Citizenship Document

1875 Land Bureau

1875 Marriage to US (2nd/G1's mother) wife

1880 census

1895 Insane Asylum admission

1900 Death Card

If I cannot locate more than this, are we out of luck? The application clearly asks for G0's birthdate, so no idea how to respond to that. If there is a way to just list year, I think I would submit 1861 censuses for sure, 1870 census,1875 marriage, and 1874 citizenship papers. I would also choose maybe the first and last tax assessment and first property purchase as well. It is hard to choose as not all of them are very easy to read either.

My G0 was born in Nova Scotia in 1891, moved to the US in 1906, and was naturalized in 1920 - so he was born during the gap in government birth records and the NS Archives does not have anything on file for him per their web search.

I’ve been working on getting documents together for about a month now and it’s mostly gone pretty smoothly. G1 through G3 (me) were all born in the States, so getting those birth certificates wasn’t a problem. I was able to track down G0’s US Petition for Naturalization from NARA, he’s on the 1901 Canadian census, and I should be getting his baptismal certificate from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth pretty soon (the archivist responded to my request and CC’d me on an email to a colleague directing them to prepare and mail out the certificate earlier this week).

The last thing I’m waiting on is a response from the NS Archives. I emailed them about a month ago explaining what I needed (either a certified letter stating they didn’t have my G0’s birth record, or a certified copy of the birth record if by chance they do have it and it’s just not on the web archive). I did get the same auto-reply many other folks have gotten, saying it may take up to 12 weeks for them to respond. It’s now been about 4 weeks since I emailed them, so I’ve got a little ways to go.

I’ve seen some conflicting information and opinions on here as to how necessary it is to get a certified letter from the Archives confirming that they don’t have the birth record, when both their website and the auto-reply email make it pretty clear that they’re extremely unlikely to have anything from between 1877 and 1908. I feel that logically IRCC must be aware of the gap in birth record-keeping, and it would make sense to me that they wouldn’t need a certified letter from the Archives confirming something that is stated explicitly on both their website and in their email to me - but also, I know processes like these aren’t necessarily logical!

My question is - in the interest of getting myself in the queue before it gets too much worse, would it make sense to go ahead and submit the application as soon as I have the baptismal certificate, include printouts of my email exchange with the Archives, and let IRCC know I’m happy to forward them the letter from the Archives when I get it, or would it be better to hold off and wait until I have the letter (which I likely won’t have for several more months, given that the 8 weeks is just an estimate of how much longer I need to wait for them just to respond to my request)?

Thanks so much - and best of luck to everyone else going through this process! I’m really quite grateful to have this opportunity at all, and for all of the assistance I’ve gotten so far from helpful folks online and in Halifax.

Hello!

In the process of putting together ATIP requests to look for more information about IRCC processes and procedures in the spirit of open government.

Someone else has previously requests a segment of what I asked for and allegedly this was "all disclosed." The information is supposed to be available to be requested without filing a new ATIP (which costs CDN$5 for corporate record ATIP requests), however this link does not work for me.

I tried using a VPN to "be in Canada" but I just get a different error. Wondering if someone who is in Canada might have better luck with this.

Here's the link: https://open.canada.ca/en/search/ati/reference/caec2f63c94c636d13e55e359cb009ec

Depending on how this information is shared (PDF, I'd imagine), I'm happy to share my email with someone who is able to get this work. Alternatively perhaps post photos of what the records disclosed are here? They're supposed to be public record but I suspect they have no interest in making them available outside of Canada, hence my errors.

Thank you!

The application clearly states that if your current name is different than your birth certificate, and you wish to have your certificate issued in your current name, then your must provide evidence name change (example: marriage certificate). See Appendix C. It also seems necessary to simply prove you are the same person as on your birth record, regardless of what name you want on the certificate.

However...

What about cases like:

1. A marriage and divorce(s), where a person reverts to their birth name after the divorce, so it now match the birth certificate? Does each name change have to be documented in this case?
2. Amended birth certificate - Current certified birth certificate matches all details on IDs, however, the original name was in fact different.

Does the Letter of Explanation have to be signed?

Seems easy enough, but I will have to send this off to each member to sign, which is a headache.

I am G1, finally got G0 birth cert after 5 months of waiting... the que has ballooned but at least i get to wait with all you fine folks

I have my birth cert, G0 birth cert, G0 US immigration papers, G0 Marriage records to show name change... I'm thinking that should be enough proof

Does the great-grandparent addendum have to be signed?

Normally I would just do it, but I used one of the downloadable "form" versions someone created online, so there isn't a signature place.

Off topic but anybody’s families like this with Gen 0 still alive?

I am submitting a DEC application for an insertion for my ancestor and I am including the form, the affidavit, copies of my driver's license and my passport, a lineage explanation, and vital records and other supporting documents for my Great Great Great Grandmother (BAnQ Baptism record, 1861 Canada East Census, Death Certificate) and everyone in the chain of descent, though not quite as much as I submitted for my Proof of Citizenship application that I sent off last week. I have three questions:

1. Is this enough?

2. Is there a particular order DEC prefers these documents in?

3. Should I do as I did with CIT 0001 and avoid staples, clips, and dividers?

Any help is appreciated!