My maternal grandmother's grandparents and other family immigrated to the U.S beginning in the late 19th century. As for evidence, I'm not entirely certain what we have as there are boxes and bags that have gone untouched for decades in her home. I do know that we have letters, post cards addressed to our ancestors (many are in Czech, though I believe most were sent between addresses in America), my great-great grandmother's American marriage certificate (as well as many photographs), and some sort of servant's work journal in German and Czech from one relative who must've been working in Austria-Hungary as I believe it is from there. I doubt that we would have any birth certificates or anything from those who immigrated, but we may have death certificates from here in the U.S. We have lots of things in the family though, so more could come up if we searched.

Additionally — and I am unsure if this would add to anything or if we have any proof behind my grandmother's word (it may be present in contemporary correspondence) — my grandmother's great-grand parents returned to Europe before the second world war and, as she tells me, had all their belongings, property, and money confiscated and spent the remainder of their days in a German concentration camp. I am certain I could get their names and some sort of documents related to them.

Would either my grandmother or myself have any luck pursuing a claim to citizenship by descent based on the information I provided? Thank you in advance for your time.

My application was delivered on June 15. I called today to get information and was told they were working on packages delivered on April 22 (not completely sure of the date). But if this is true, the time for the initial scan has gone from 3 months to 4.

I am applying via C-3, but I also want to be a good Canadian citizen. Does anyone have resources of what immigrants have to study to pass their citizenship test? Preferably audio rather than written. I last lived in Canada in junior kindergarten--1972! So it's not like I learned much history, lol. I'm not ultra-close to my Canadian relatives. They like to poke us American cousins about stuff like "we British Loyalists opposed slavery and you didn't," like I was alive back then, lol. Then I'll email back photos of my No Kings protest signs and tell them to take the "u" out of "colour."

The geneological research for the application was interesting: I learned how the British kicked out the French and brought my ancestors up from Massachussetts. My French-Canadian bestie (also applying for C-3) found that ... ironic. Like, our ancestors traded places. But I want to learn more. I want to learn what immigrants applying for citizenship would have to learn. Thanks.

I have my grandfather's Ontario death certificate in hand and I'm trying to get his birth certificate (he was born in 1921, so it falls under ServiceOntario/Office of the Registrar General, not the Archives of Ontario since that only covers births up to 1919).

I've got the death certificate ready and understand I'll only be able to get a "certified copy of birth registration," not a standard certificate. What's tripping me up is the guarantor requirement, someone who's known me for 2+ years and works in an approved profession (doctor, lawyer, notary, etc) Canadian citizen. I don't have that

Has anyone been through this process recently, either as a grandchild applicant or dealing with the guarantor step? Is there a better way to obtain it?

I received my AOR today! my paper application was delivered early May. Will see how it goes from here!

correction package was delivered non urgent april 28.

For weeks now I couldn’t figure out why after receiving my AOR I could not check my status online using the Canadian website tool.

So today I have finally figured out my issue with the website . I live in the uk but there is actually two options I believe. One is UK British subject ( this is what I have been selecting and failed ) and two England. How did I even miss this 😳

So I have now tried England and I’m straight into my application.

I thought I would share this incase it helps others or have I been having a brain drain for weeks 🤣

Quick context: US citizen. Father was born in the US in 1948 to a UK citizen mother (prior to her becoming a US citizen 2 years after his birth ). Me: born in 1981. So pathway is that she could not pass her citizenship to him and therefore him to me.

I began my process a month ago with gathering documents after being told I have a legitimate claim (nearly identical to example 13 in the guidance documents).

Today I finally got my grandmother‘s UK birth registry entry from the GRO. And I’ve got a couple questions / concerns.

1. There is no name and surname for the father.
2. Cursive on the mother‘s box is somewhat difficult to read (lots of detail written ). I will provide a photo in my first comment.
3. The name of her mother matches the name she used her whole life (Coxon) and is what appears on marriage certificate to my grandfather and all of the other subsequent documents. Will a father’s name not being listed have any impact on my application?

Any help is appreciated.

Hey everyone

My Grandma - Manitoba born 1914, Died Gloucester England 1998.

My dad adopted London England 1949. Died 2013 Staffordshire England, did not apply for any Canadian citizenship to my knowledge.

Me born 1981, Cambridgeshire England.

Has anyone ever successfully navigated this hurdle via 5(4) or some other method ?

Any responses would be much appreciated

I asked for paper certificate. I'm in no way needing to buy the frame yet but I can start shopping. How big is it? And the personal information is on the back?

I am almost done an application for my child. I was born in the USA and inherited Canadian citizenship from my mom. My mom was not born in Canada.

She was granted Canadian citizenship after she moved to Canada as a kid. I have her Citizenship document. Is that all I need? Do I need my mom's birth certificate from England?

Thank you for any help with this process. I am really worried about making a mistake or leaving something important out!

Applied last year for my 2 daughters and my mom on paper, during the interim session.

My paperwork was checked by a friend who is a grant writer and also got accepted for citizenship by descent.

My Great Grandfather was born in Walter Falls Ontario (a town his grandfather founded) in 1900 and naturalized to the US in 36. He would visit Canada every few years with family and took my mom and her sisters a few times. We keep in touch with Family on Victoria Island and Yukon. Several of these cousins have also came and visited Texas in my lifetime as well. So although it’s a few generations removed, we have a relationship.

I have had an “in progress” status since January 2026

What are my chances hearing back anytime soon?

I feel confident in the paper trail on my moms maiden name 1847 immigrated from Ireland to Ontario, and have documents going back further for the families they married into

Any advice is helpful

Do I qualify for 4L or 4L UK citizenship?

me born US 1968

father born 1925 US

mother born 1929 US

parents married 1947

paternal grandfather born UK 1890

paternal grandmother born UK 1891

paternal grandparents marriage UK 1913

thank you for guidance

Hi everyone! I finally mailed my CIT 0001 proof-of-citizenship application and wanted to share what I submitted because I’ve seen a lot of different evidence packages in this group. I’m curious how mine compares, particularly for anyone applying under the post-Bill C-3 rules through a multigenerational line.
I’m intentionally leaving all names out for privacy, but I’ll give the generations, dates, types of records, and where I found everything.
My basic biological line is:
New Brunswick family → great-grandmother → grandmother → mother → me.
The biggest complication in my application is my great-grandmother, who was born in New Brunswick around 1926 and came to the United States as a very young child. Despite searching extensively, I have not been able to locate her standalone New Brunswick birth registration.
Instead of relying on one piece of evidence to establish her identity and New Brunswick connection, I built the application around multiple government, vital, immigration and historical records that overlap and corroborate one another.
1. The older New Brunswick generation
I have the 1903 New Brunswick birth registration for my great-grandmother’s father.
This is an actual New Brunswick vital record showing that he was born in New Brunswick, identifying his parents and establishing the older Canadian side of the family.
I located this through the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick’s historical Vital Statistics database.
I also have the 1925 New Brunswick marriage record for my great-grandmother’s parents.
This is particularly important to me because it places her parents in New Brunswick immediately before my great-grandmother’s approximately 1926 birth.
There is a name discrepancy involving her father’s surname between some of these records. His full registered surname appears on the 1903 birth record, while a shortened/variant version appears on the later record. I included a written clarification statement explaining the discrepancy and placed the records together so the officer can follow the identity across the documents.
2. My great-grandmother — the generation with the missing birth registration
This is the part of my application that required the most research.
I have not been able to locate my great-grandmother’s standalone New Brunswick birth registration.
However, I have a 1929 U.S./Canadian immigration/border-crossing record/manifest involving my great-grandmother when she was approximately three years old.
I located this through historical genealogy/immigration research.
This is important because it is a government-created historical record from when she was actually a small child, rather than a family recollection written decades later.
I also have a later certified U.S. vital record for her daughter — my grandmother.
That certified record is extremely important to my application because it identifies my great-grandmother as my grandmother’s mother and specifically records my great-grandmother’s birthplace as Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Therefore, even though I don’t have my great-grandmother’s standalone New Brunswick birth registration, I do have a certified government vital record from the next generation identifying her by name, establishing the parent-child relationship, and independently reporting her birthplace as Fredericton, New Brunswick.
3. The newspaper evidence / obituaries
I also submitted historical newspaper records, and I want to explain these because they aren’t simply random genealogy clippings that I’m using instead of vital records.
One of the records is the obituary of my great-grandfather.
That obituary identifies the family he left behind, including my great-grandmother and my grandmother. It helps corroborate the great-grandmother → grandmother relationship and helps connect my great-grandmother’s Murray identity with the married surname appearing in the later generations.
The other particularly useful obituary is for my great-great-grandmother — the mother of my great-grandmother.
That obituary is interesting because it identifies her descendants across multiple generations and essentially provides an independent family chain connecting the older generation → my great-grandmother → my grandmother → my mother → me.
It also specifically states that my great-great-grandmother herself was born in New Brunswick.
I understand that newspaper obituaries are secondary evidence. I’m not asking IRCC to establish Canadian citizenship solely because an obituary says somebody was born in New Brunswick.
I included them because they independently corroborate the names, relationships, maiden/married surnames and generations already supported by the government and vital records.
4. Something I noticed about the entire documentary trail
One thing that made me more comfortable submitting the application is how consistently the evidence points back to New Brunswick.
I’m not dealing with conflicting records where one document says Ontario, another says Quebec, another says Nova Scotia, etc.
The Canadian side of everything I’ve located repeatedly leads back to New Brunswick:
• my great-grandmother’s father’s 1903 New Brunswick birth registration;
• her parents’ 1925 New Brunswick marriage record;
• the historical immigration/border record involving my great-grandmother as a small child;
• my grandmother’s certified vital record identifying my great-grandmother as her mother and specifically recording her birthplace as Fredericton, New Brunswick;
• the historical newspaper/obituary evidence connecting the family generations;
• and the obituary for the older generation specifically stating that my great-great-grandmother was herself born in New Brunswick.
That’s why I ultimately felt comfortable submitting despite the missing standalone birth registration. There isn’t one isolated genealogy entry making the New Brunswick claim. Multiple independent records created at different times keep pointing back to the same place and family.
5. Great-grandmother → grandmother
This relationship is established by the certified U.S. vital record mentioned above.
This document is especially useful because it does several things simultaneously:
• identifies my grandmother;
• identifies my great-grandmother as her mother;
• establishes their parent-child relationship;
• and records my great-grandmother’s birthplace as Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The obituary evidence provides additional independent corroboration of this relationship and the surname changes.
6. Grandmother → mother — adoption/name-change issue
This generation has another wrinkle.
My mother was adopted and consequently used her adoptive father’s surname.
However, my citizenship claim follows her biological maternal line, not the adoptive family.
I obtained the relevant official/local government documentation establishing her biological mother and included an explanation of the adoption and resulting surname difference.
I specifically addressed this in my cover letter because I didn’t want an officer to get halfway through the lineage and wonder why the surname suddenly changed.
The biological relationship is documented, and the historical newspaper evidence provides additional corroboration across these generations.
7. Mother → me
This is the straightforward generation.
I included my own official birth documentation identifying my mother, along with my identification and the other applicant documentation required for the CIT 0001 proof-of-citizenship application.
8. What I did about the missing New Brunswick birth registration
I didn’t simply write, “I can’t find it.”
I submitted a formal request to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick asking them to search for my great-grandmother’s birth registration.
The Archives confirmed receipt of my request and explained that citizenship-by-descent requests are experiencing significant processing delays.
I included documentation of that request/correspondence with my citizenship application so IRCC can see that I have genuinely attempted to obtain the original provincial record from the responsible government authority.
If New Brunswick eventually locates the registration, I intend to obtain the official/certified record and provide it to IRCC once I have an application/file number and can properly associate supplemental evidence with my pending application.
If the Archives ultimately responds that no registration can be located, I’ll preserve that response as documentation that the original record was genuinely sought from the responsible provincial authority but could not be obtained.
9. And then, of course, I found another record AFTER mailing the application 😂
Literally after mailing everything, I located what appears to be the relevant family in the 1930 United States Federal Census.
My great-grandmother would still have been a young child at the time.
The census appears to provide another contemporaneous government record connecting the family with Canada and potentially corroborating my great-grandmother’s Canadian birthplace/family background.
So now I have that saved as well.
I obviously can’t put it into the package that’s already traveling to IRCC, and I don’t plan to randomly mail another document without a file number.
My plan is to preserve the original census image and citation information. Once I receive an AOR/application number, I can provide it as supplemental evidence if appropriate, especially if the Provincial Archives hasn’t located the missing birth registration by then or IRCC asks for additional documentation.
10. How I actually researched everything
For anyone building a similar multigenerational application, I didn’t find all of this in one place.
I used several different sources:
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick: historical New Brunswick birth and marriage registrations and my pending formal search for the missing great-grandmother birth registration.
U.S. state/local vital-record authorities: certified/official records establishing the later parent-child relationships.
Historical immigration/border records: the 1929 record involving my great-grandmother when she was approximately three years old.
U.S. Federal Census: the 1930 record I discovered immediately after mailing the application.
Historical newspaper archives: obituaries and other family notices that help establish identities, maiden/married surnames and relationships across generations.
Genealogy databases/search tools: I used genealogy sites primarily to find historical records and figure out which government/archive held them. Whenever possible, I then tried to obtain the record from the actual archive, vital-record authority or other original source instead of relying only on somebody else’s family tree or a genealogy transcription.
11. How I organized the actual application
I didn’t want to hand an IRCC officer a stack of century-old records and expect them to reverse-engineer my family.
I prepared a detailed cover letter/evidence index explaining the biological line and what each piece of evidence establishes.
I specifically addressed:
• the missing great-grandmother New Brunswick birth registration;
• my pending search with the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick;
• the surname discrepancy in the older New Brunswick records;
• maiden/married-name changes;
• my mother’s adoption and why the claim follows her biological maternal line;
• and how the individual documents connect one generation to the next.
I organized the supporting documents according to that evidence index so the officer can follow the documentary chain rather than having to guess what each old record is supposed to prove.
I also included the required application/checklist material, fee receipt, identification and two citizenship-specification photographs.
12. What I DON’T have
I want to be completely clear about this because it’s the part I’m most interested in hearing people’s experiences with:
I do not currently have my great-grandmother’s standalone New Brunswick birth registration.
That’s the obvious weakness in my application.
What I do have is a combination of independent evidence surrounding that missing record:
• Canadian government/vital records for the generation immediately above her;
• her parents’ New Brunswick marriage record immediately before her birth;
• a historical government immigration/border record involving her as a small child;
• a certified government vital record from the next generation identifying her as the mother and specifically giving Fredericton, New Brunswick as her birthplace;
• historical obituary/newspaper evidence independently connecting the family and generations;
• an older-generation obituary specifically identifying New Brunswick as a birthplace;
• the newly discovered 1930 U.S. Census record;
• and documented proof that I’ve formally asked the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick to search for the missing registration.
So I wasn’t trying to replace a missing birth certificate with a family tree or a single obituary. I tried to build a collection of independent records around the missing document so IRCC can evaluate the evidence as a whole.
13. What I’m hoping to hear from people here
For those of you who have submitted Bill C-3 / second-or-later-generation proof-of-citizenship applications, especially through older New Brunswick ancestors:
How strong does this evidence package sound to you?
I’m particularly interested in anyone who could not obtain one ancestor’s Canadian birth registration.
Did IRCC accept a combination of government/vital records, immigration or boat manifests, census records, foreign vital records identifying the ancestor’s Canadian birthplace, Canadian records for the generation immediately above the ancestor, etc.?
Or did IRCC ultimately request the missing Canadian birth registration anyway?
If they requested additional evidence, what did they specifically ask you to provide?
I’m completely fine if IRCC eventually sends me a request for additional documentation. My goal wasn’t to pretend the missing birth registration doesn’t matter. My goal was to give the officer as much reliable evidence as possible to evaluate that missing link and demonstrate that I’ve actively tried to obtain the original record.
The application has now officially been mailed to the IRCC Digitization Centre – Proofs in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, so at this point there isn’t much more I can change. 😂
Now I’m waiting for:
Delivered → AOR → Processing → hopefully Approved → Citizenship Certificate 🇨🇦
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with a similar multigenerational case, especially New Brunswick descendants, Bill C-3 applicants, or anyone who had to establish an ancestor’s Canadian birth using alternative historical records because the original provincial birth registration couldn’t be located.
Thanks! 🇨🇦

Ok so I sent in my proof application at the end of July for myself and my father, and while I sent in all of my documents I completely forgot there there was an error with my birth certificate. My mom was the one who gave the hospital the information for it and she didn’t know/forgot at that time that my dad wasn’t born in the state we live in, so that information is incorrect. This has never been an issue for my us documents, I have a passport and a realID, but with how strict the IRCC is, what should I do once I get my AOR? I don’t have any documents that prove my birth and his correct place of birth. Do I send a letter or something? Is this even an issue, since both of our names are correct?

I am gathering evidence for citizenship by descent. My great-grandmother was born in Canada. Her daughter, my American-born grandmother, has a completely different name than her birth certificate. She was born in 1926. She used this other completely different name her whole life.

I have the following documents using her "new" name:

1. Marriage certificate listing G0 as her mom

2. Death certificate listing G0 as her mom

3. 1930s US census listing G0 as her mom

4. GOs obituary listing grandma as a daughter

What is the strength of this evidence in your opinion?

Hi everyone,

I’m researching a potential Italian citizenship by descent case for my family and I would really appreciate input from people familiar with the new rules introduced by Law 74/2025 (formerly Decree-Law 36/2025, often referred to as the “Tajani decree”).

The family line is:

Italian-born great-great-grandfather 🇮🇹
↓
His daughter, born in 1930
↓
My grandmother, born in 1949
↓
My father, born in 1975
↓
Me, born in 2004

My Italian ancestor was born in Italy and later emigrated to Argentina. He never naturalized as Argentine, and he died in Argentina shortly after his daughter was born.

I can obtain the relevant Italian and Argentine civil records, including proof of his Italian birth, marriage, death, and non-naturalization.

There is also no 1948 issue in this line: although the transmission from the Italian ancestor to his daughter occurred before 1948, the daughter transmitted the citizenship to my grandmother, who was born in 1949.

The strategy I am considering

My grandmother is the granddaughter of an Italian-born ancestor.

Assuming she is able to have her Italian citizenship recognized iure sanguinis under the current rules, I am wondering whether the following strategy could work:

1. Grandmother → recognition of Italian citizenship
2. Father → recognition as the son of an Italian citizen
3. Me → recognition as the son of an Italian citizen

My understanding is that iure sanguinis recognition is declaratory: the person is recognized as having been an Italian citizen from birth, rather than becoming a citizen on the date of the recognition.

Therefore, if my grandmother is recognized as Italian, my father (born in 1975) would have been born to an Italian mother.

If my father is subsequently recognized as Italian, I would then have been born in 2004 to an Italian father.

My questions

1. Has anyone dealt with a situation like this after Law 74/2025?
2. If a parent is recognized iure sanguinis after their child was already born, can that recognition establish that the child was also an Italian citizen from birth?
3. Do the new restrictions for people born abroad with another citizenship prevent this type of successive recognition through the parent?
4. Could my father potentially qualify because his mother was recognized as Italian?
5. If my father is recognized, could I then potentially qualify as the child of an Italian citizen?
6. Has anyone received a written response from an Italian consulate, the Ministry of the Interior, or another Italian authority specifically addressing this situation?

I'm particularly interested in actual administrative practice, recent court decisions, or official interpretations after Law 74/2025, rather than how these cases worked under the old rules.

I understand that this is ultimately a legal question and that Reddit is not a substitute for professional advice. I'm mainly trying to determine whether this is a realistic strategy worth pursuing before my family begins the process.

Any experiences, references to relevant cases, consular responses, or information from people who have dealt with a similar situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I sent my application in June 29 and it was delivered July 7th as per Canada post. Is it normal we haven’t heard anything back from them?

Canada passed a new citizenship law in 2025 that removes the first-generation limit and allows those with a Canadian-born ancestor from multiple generations away to become a Canadian citizen. I was wondering if anyone here has gone through, or started the process, and can comment on how it has gone? Is there a limit to how many generations back it applies to?