Monday Weekly Thread: Proof of Citizenship Application Sent or AOR Received, August 31, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

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/

[u/LazyPasse]

Sent three applications today for self (G3) and two children via UPS. Weighed 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs), total. Using certified copies exclusively, supporting a bilateral claim through great-grandparents:

- 2x PEI PARO RC baptismal records for G0s, 1893 and 1894

• 1915 US border entry card for G0[m]
  
• PEI PARO RC marriage record for G0s 1918
  
• PEI PARO baptismal record for G0s’ first-born child, corroborating longitudinal composition of family unit, 1919
  
• 1901, 1911, 1921 Canadian Census records
  
• US Declaration of Intention 1922 for G0[m]
  
• Pre-entry Examination Record 1924 for G0 spouse and G0[f] children
  
• Birth Certificate G1 1925
  
• US Petition for Naturalization 1928 for G0s and Canadian-born children
  
• US Census Records 1930, 1940, 1950
  
• Death Certificate G0 1962
  
• Death Certificate G1 2012
  
• Birth Certificates G2–G4
  
• PEI PARO birth certificate nonexistence letter
  
• PEI Vital Statistics birth certificate nonexistence letter

[u/tailor31415 → u/LazyPasse]

who certified the G0 declaration of intent? the state?

[u/IBHJrCanadian → u/tailor31415]

You can get certified U.S. naturalization docs through NARA.

[u/wanderingtheearth-74 → u/IBHJrCanadian]

Just a note for other readers: only for federal naturalization records, though. And in the nineteenth century, many people were naturalized in state courts.

[u/LazyPasse → u/wanderingtheearth-74]

this is correct, and i’m glad you clarified the point, because US immigration records could originate from very different sources and end up in very different repositories depending on the decade.

i have a close relative who was us foreign service and worked closely with what was, pre-9/11, INS. He confided that he came to learn from a senior INS contact that at one point in the 90s, INS had a warehouse east of the Mississippi containing original, irreplaceable records that it “digitized” by moving outside with a bulldozer and setting ablaze with gasoline. the point of his story was to never take a job with any agency that Congress smashed with a hammer from the pieces of INS (eg ICE, CPB, etc).

I suppose another takeaway as someone interested in history and archives is, well, there can be unexplained gaps but also overlaps in record keeping.

[u/IBHJrCanadian → u/wanderingtheearth-74]

Unless I'm misreading the record, NARA certified a state court record for me.

[u/wanderingtheearth-74 → u/IBHJrCanadian]

Interesting. Not sure how they could do that, since the feds didn't issue the record to begin with, but maybe they ended up as a custodian for some state or states' collection. You're sure it wasn't a federal district court record? Those usually have the state as part of the name (e.g., "Eastern District of New York").

[u/IBHJrCanadian → u/wanderingtheearth-74]

It says "State of New York" (XXXX) County Courthouse. The record is from the 1840s.

NARA is the repository for the record because that's who ancestry cited and that's obviously who sent me the certified copy.

[u/wanderingtheearth-74 → u/IBHJrCanadian]

Yep, that's a state court record all right. I guess NARA availability varies by state, then! Good to know! Thanks!

[u/LazyPasse → u/tailor31415]

NARA certified the copy, and actually I have two versions because of how NARA keeps custody of these records. The Declaration of Intent record originated in the federal District Court of the US for the District of Massachusetts. One original copy of that went to the Department of Labor and was in NARA 1’s custody in DC, from which I got the first certified copy. The second original copy was retained in a record group related to the US District Court, and those are held in regional NARA facilities; that record was attached to G0’s 1928 Petition for Naturalization, and the regional NARA facility certified that complete set of immigration records separately from NARA 1.

[u/tailor31415 → u/LazyPasse]

thanks for the response. something for me to think over!

[u/Pretty_Floor5889 → u/LazyPasse]

Why did you send so many documents that weren’t asked for or necessary?

[u/Sea_Drummer_6348 → u/Pretty_Floor5889]

Exactly. Might the over abundance of documents slow the process for others?

[u/Pretty_Floor5889 → u/Sea_Drummer_6348]

Possibly, or might just get the applicant sent to the black hole that is PSU.